#even nico was shook and he didn't know jason for that long and that's saying something

[undertheredhood]

jason 'raised by wolves' grace: *returning to camp jupiter as a soft boy with a girlfriend*

everyone in camp jupiter: *immediately getting in a circle around him to exorcise whoever it is that is possessing him because there is no way that is the jason grace they grew up with*

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 14: WE BREAK A BRIDGE

I SWEAR I picked the order at random and then committed to it through the entirety of this series for Nico, of ALL of them, to get this chapter! I think I have a magic power, and I wish to return it.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

It didn't take a genius to figure out why Will looked suddenly sunken, a weight appearing in his usually open face. Nico had no delusions, he was about to read about a lot of Will's siblings dying.

Nico didn't know how he was supposed to just start reading like he didn't know something awful like that was about to happen to Will. How had Will done this? What curse of Hades had been placed on them that he now sat in exactly Will's shoes when he'd been the one to read of Bianca's death?

Will gave him a brave smile. There was always such a kindness in his eyes. He was encouraging Nico like he had from the beginning. To start, to get this over with.

He didn't know how to read, he didn't know how to do this to actually be of help though. Will had been a kind of support he'd never had before through all of this and he wanted to try and be that now. Will just nestled down into his seat, shifting his weight to get comfortable, his arm over his shoulders as warm as ever. Like a cat settling in, Nico had never been around them much but he couldn't help think of the comparison. All he was missing was the purring.

So Nico read, "We Break a Bridge."

Alex snorted in delight at once. "Only Percy! Taking a metaphor for trusting others and turning it into a group activity of violence!"

"You break it you buy it Percy," Jason chuckled.

"Gods I hope that bill never finds my mom," Percy frowned.

The others made a few wisecracks too, but all Nico noticed was Will. Pressing into him, obviously trying to hold him as close as possible. Nico honestly wanted to set aside the book and let him.

He didn't know it, but he'd come a long way from that guy who'd landed in here who wouldn't consider tolerating such a thing.

Fortunately, Blackjack was on duty.

"It's a thing of beauty when Blackjack's on duty," Percy said in a sing-song voice.*

"Was that a quote?" Annabeth looked at him in confusion.

"Yeah, sorry, I should stop that," Percy chuckled, again realizing nobody got it but him.

I did my best taxicab whistle, and within a few minutes two dark shapes circled out of the sky.

'Avoiding those pesky distractions of saving everyone along the way,' Will understood as he tried not to fidget around to much.

They looked like hawks at first, but as they descended I could make out the long galloping legs of pegasi.

Yo, boss. Blackjack landed at a trot, his friend Porkpie right behind him. Man, I thought those wind gods were gonna knock us to Pennsylvania until we said we were with you!

"Land of the Eagles, I guess they don't want competition," Magnus chuckled, though the football reference went over most of their heads, and Jason was looking at him particularly strangely.

"Is that all it took to get past those winds guarding the place?" Alex rolled her eyes. "What's to stop Kronos showing up lying saying he just had a nice cupcake to deliver?"

"Even he's not evil enough to think of misusing cupcakes like that," Percy shook his head.

"Thanks for coming," I told him. "Hey, why do pegasi gallop as they fly, anyway?"

"So that they never lose practice of aiming?" Thalia shrugged.

Jason sighed and slumped in his seat. He really wanted to get his hands on a pegasi skeleton, but knew saying that out loud would make him sound like a lunatic right now.

Blackjack whinnied. Why do humans swing their arms as they walk? I dunno, boss. It just feels right.

"Love, love, love that that pegasus just told you to stop overthinking things," Annabeth grinned. She owed Blackjack some sugar cubes.

"Did it do any good?" Percy rolled his eyes at both of them, even if one was only in spirit. "No." He answered his own question.

Where to?

"We need to get to the Williamsburg Bridge," I said.

Blackjack lowered his neck. You're darn right, boss. We flew over it on the way here, and it don't look good. Hop on!

"If your camp hands out medals, Blackjack deserves one," Jason smiled. "No hesitation, just flying you right into battle, every time."

"I'll find a way to give him a horse-sized donut one day," Percy nodded.

On the way to the bridge, a knot formed in the pit of my stomach. The Minotaur was one of the first monsters I'd ever defeated. Four years ago he'd nearly killed my mother on Half-Blood Hill. I still had nightmares about that.

Magnus was a big complainer about Percy's nightmares. He kept insisting it was an extra layer of cruelty he couldn't even get a decent sleep without being bombarded with the world's problems.

He was suddenly just a tad grateful they hadn't been getting a night-by-night example of everything Percy dreamed of, the good, the bad, and the normal trauma.

I'd been hoping he would stay dead for a few centuries, but I should've known my luck wouldn't hold.

"The best summary of your life by far," Nico nodded.

"Yeah," Percy groaned. "Who do I pay to rewrite that?"

Will offered an awkward smile, the errant comment on the tip of his tongue his dad perhaps being able to pull that off, but it fumbled off fast. He just wasn't in the mood.

We saw the battle before we were close enough to make out individual fighters. It was well after midnight now, but the bridge blazed with light. Cars were burning. Arcs of fire streamed in both directions as flaming arrows and spears sailed through the air.

We came in for a low pass, and I saw the Apollo campers retreating. They would hide behind cars and snipe at the approaching army, setting off explosive arrows and dropping caltrops in the road, building fiery barricades wherever they could, dragging sleeping drivers out of their cars to get them out of harm's way. But the enemy kept advancing. An entire phalanx of dracaenae marched in the lead, their shields locked together, spear tips bristling over the top. An occasional arrow would connect with their snaky trunks, or a neck, or a chink in their armor, and the unlucky snake woman would disintegrate, but most of the Apollo arrows glanced harmlessly off their shield wall. About a hundred more monsters marched behind them.

It seemed like a stalemate that was going to collapse any second, Percy's throat tightened at the fresh memory. The smell of the smoke had clogged him up before he even got close, he didn't know how those guys had been aiming with such precision to hit anything. Dust had been sweeping across his feet like he'd brought the shore with him as he landed.

He wished the bodies would have vanished as well, but then, that's what separated them from the enemy.

Hellhounds leaped ahead of the line from time to time. Most were destroyed with arrows, but one got hold of an Apollo camper and dragged him away. I didn't see what happened to him next. I didn't want to know.

The same thing that would have happened to Percy all those years ago if Chiron hadn't saved his hind. He wasn't there to save every kid with half-a-dozen arrows this time though, Will felt seized by the thought like someone had grabbed his soul.

"There!" Annabeth called from the back of her pegasus.

Sure enough, in the middle of the invading legion was Old Beefhead himself.

"I'm sure that's exactly what the ancient Greeks called him while running for their lives in that first labyrinth," Thalia looked at him in her usual pride for never passing a moment to insult someone.

"I hope Theseus made the first hamburger out of him," Percy smirked.

The last time I'd seen the Minotaur, he'd been wearing nothing but his tighty whities. I don't know why.

"Sorry Nico, but those four words are the best summary of Percy's life," Annabeth cut in, "and from his own head!"

"I really could just wear that on the back of any shirt for the rest of my life," Percy sighed.

Maybe he'd been shaken out of bed to chase me.

"I am now imagining Zeus and or Hades just showing up in a monster's house and kicking the frame of their bed until they do their bidding," Alex nodded.

"I'm still half convinced he has Echidna on speed dial for next time," Percy nodded.

"Next time you, piss of Zeus?" Annabeth asked in concern.

"Yeah," he looked at her blankly like he could mean anything else.

This time, he was prepared for battle.

From the waist down, he wore standard Greek battle gear—a kiltlike apron of leather and metal flaps,

"For shame on you Percy for never wearing standard Greek battle gear yourself," Alex cackled.

From anyone else, he would have assumed Alex was mocking him for the idea of guys wearing kilts, but from Alex he was pretty sure she just wanted him in that get-up for potential nerd conventions.

bronze greaves covering his legs, and tightly wrapped leather sandals. His top was all bull—hair and hide and muscle leading to a head so large he should've toppled over just from the weight of his horns. He seemed larger than the last time I'd seen him—ten feet tall at least.

Considering the last time Percy had 'seen him,' it had been pouring down rain and Percy's mind might have honestly still been obstructed by Mist, Nico would have assumed in fact the Minotaur would have seemed smaller to the now teenager about to face him down.

A double-bladed axe was strapped to his back, but he was too impatient to use it. As soon as he saw me circling overhead (or sniffed me, more likely, since his eyesight was bad), he bellowed and picked up a white limousine.

"I imagine him like a rhino," Thalia nodded. "He just violently attacks without question at the slightest movement. Your scent is like his red flag."

"Great, just what I always wanted, another chance at being a conquistador," Percy's smile was nearly vindictive. This monster was going to wish he'd been reincarnated as a chicken hybrid instead by the time Percy was through with him.

"Blackjack, dive!" I yelled.

What? The pegasus asked. No way could he . . . Holy horse feed!

"Blackjack underestimating his opponents is going to get him hurt," Jason leaned forward in his seat in concern. It's possible that's how he'd even been captured as Luke's personal steed in the first place.

We were at least a hundred feet up, but the limo came sailing toward us, flipping fender over fender like a two-ton boomerang. Annabeth and Porkpie swerved madly to the left, while Blackjack tucked in his wings and plunged. The limo sailed over my head, missing by maybe two inches. It cleared the suspension lines of the bridge and fell toward the East River.

"Feel like that god's going to feel the splash and instantly blame you," Jason said, eyes closed and rubbing them.

"No different than any other part of my life," Percy shrugged. As long as he kept the monsters out of the river while cussing him out.

Monsters jeered and shouted, and the Minotaur picked up another car.

"Was he a brand snob?" Magnus asked. "I just want to know if he picked another limosene, or another white car, or if some certain symbol attracted his attention."

"I'd like to hit him with a John Deer tractor but he'd probably throw that back at me too," Percy scowled.

"Drop us behind the lines with the Apollo cabin," I told Blackjack. "Stay in earshot but get out of danger!"

"Easily the best advice you've ever given someone," Annabeth grinned as she patted his shoulder.

"Far better than that time he tried to convince Clarisse to polish her spear in the blood of that wyvern," Thalia nodded.

"I was trying to be supportive," Percy frowned.

I ain't gonna argue, boss!

Blackjack swooped down behind an overturned school bus, where a couple of campers were hiding.

Annabeth and I leaped off as soon as our pegasi's hooves touched the pavement. Then Blackjack and Porkpie soared into the night sky.

Michael Yew ran up to us. He was definitely the shortest commando I'd ever seen. He had a bandaged cut on his arm.

It had taken all of Will's pleading to even get that far, he kept his sigh very internal. The act of making him sit still for that had been a feat only a little brother could manage. He'd tried distracting him by asking what was going to happen to the animals at the zoo since he heard Conner talking about releasing them.

The memory felt a little bitter, a little sad, and a little nostalgic all at once as Miachel had just told him to stay back at the base as he headed out, and not long after a pig had flown overhead like a bizarre angel all its own.

His ferrety face was smeared with soot and his quiver was almost empty, but he was smiling like he was having a great time.

Nico glanced at Will for probably the thousandth time in as many words to see him trying for that smile now, but his eyes were to sad. It was obvious he was happy his brother died at the peak of his life, even if that cord had been cut to soon for his liking. He still didn't quite understand how Will didn't associate him with that feeling like he did practically every time he looked at Percy.

"Glad you could join us," he said. "Where are the other reinforcements?"

"For now, we're it," I said.

"Then we're dead," he said.

"I see you got all the cheer Will," Percy told him.

He gave a sad smile back for his lost half-brother, he'd learned that dry sarcasm from him.

"He has such faith in you," Thalia couldn't help a derisive snort.

"Hey, it was a lot of monsters," Annabeth hadn't even really argued the point at the time it was a fair assumption.

"You still have your flying chariot?" Annabeth asked.

"Nah," Michael said. "Left it at camp. I told Clarisse she could have it. Whatever, you know? Not worth fighting about anymore. But she said it was too late. We'd insulted her honor for the last time or some stupid thing."

'Or some stupid thing,' Jason frowned and tipped his head to the side as he felt for Clarisse in that. They still didn't seem to understand the root of her problem, which was why she was clearly refusing to make any bridges herself so the camp could just break those later too. She wasn't just a tool, a means to be used and never respected for more than just her capabilities. Nobody should just be seen as a weapon you could point and then toss aside when you were done.

He found himself rubbing his tattoo, as usual when thoughts like that sprung to easily to mind and he thought about the Daughter of Ares for to long. He craved to know what connection he felt should be there, but now with her not even in the picture he doubted he'd get any more chances for the foreseeable future.

"Least you tried," I said.

Michael shrugged. "Yeah, well, I called her some names when she said she still wouldn't fight. I doubt that helped. Here come the uglies!"

"I so wish that was the Ares cabin though, riding in at the perfect moment," Alex admitted. Even if she made a point to knock Micheal on his ass while she stormed into the battle for calling her ugly.

"Yeah, me too," Percy had no problems admitting, even if it caused a severe twinge in his temple to imagine.

He drew an arrow and launched it toward the enemy. The arrow made a screaming sound as it flew.

When it landed, it unleashed a blast like a power chord on an electric guitar magnified through the world's largest speakers. The nearest cars exploded. Monsters dropped their weapons and clasped their ears in pain. Some ran. Others disintegrated on the spot.

"That was my last sonic arrow," Michael said.

"A pity, I'd have let him borrow some of mine," Thalia frowned. She wished she could have dispatched some of her hunters to help their cousins out. The Apollo cabin was probably as close to likable as some of the Hunters could get, even if it was the kind of tolerance at a forced family gathering.

Will knew she meant that in a helpful way, but it made her sound cocky like she'd had extras; it still grated on him, as everything was bound to do when his heart hurt so bad. They were still just laughing, just talking like nothing was wrong. His entire cabin had been on that bridge while only he and his youngest half sister had been at the infirmary at the far back and they were treating this like another quest Percy had gone on and obviously came back from.

"A gift from your dad?" I asked. "God of music?"

"I swear it's like you're still reminding yourself of this all these years later," Thalia sighed as she rubbed her temples.

Percy stayed eerily silent. It was hard keeping track of all this!

Michael grinned wickedly. "Loud music can be bad for you. Unfortunately, it doesn't always kill."

Sure enough, most monsters were regrouping, shaking off their confusion.

"We have to fall back," Michael said. "I've got Kayla and Austin setting traps farther down the bridge."

"No," I said. "Bring your campers forward to this position and wait for my signal. We're going to drive the enemy back to Brooklyn."

Michael laughed. "How do you plan to do that?"

I drew my sword.

"Percy," Annabeth said, "let me come with you."

"Too dangerous," I said.

Gods did she hate being told that. He was right. And it was annoying he was right! But he'd still told her no, and for a good stupid reason. And she hated it! Frekaing, Curse, of, Achilles!

"Besides, I need you to help Michael coordinate the defensive line. I'll distract the monsters. You group up here. Move the sleeping mortals out of the way. Then you can start picking off monsters while I keep them focused on me. If anybody can do all that, you can."

Michael snorted. "Thanks a lot."

She was the brightest person in Camp, Will couldn't stop an eye roll even by threat of death. Everybody knew it, and she and Percy relied on each other to fix everything like the rest of them weren't even there. Micheal getting a chance to say that, even while being ignored, felt justified in a petty way.

I kept my eyes on Annabeth.

She nodded reluctantly. "All right. Get moving."

Before I could lose my courage,

Annabeth sighed, it was as simple as that to him huh? He'd really been trying to prove he wasn't a coward, now of all times! If he hadn't kissed her down in that lake she might have been afraid to ever press her lips to his again, considering when she did he nearly died!

I said, "Don't I get a kiss for luck? It's kind of a tradition, right?"

"For luck?" Annabeth scowled at him in a way that suggested she really wished she had her knife on her again. "For luck! Last time I kissed you, you died for two weeks seaweed brain! How was that lucky?"

"You kissing me made me feel luckier," Percy shrugged. "I think that counts."

If looks could strangle, the son of the sea should have been choking on air as he smiled at her.

I figured she would punch me. Instead, she drew her knife and stared at the army marching toward us.

"Come back alive, Seaweed Brain. Then we'll see."

"A tradition has been broken," Jason tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Nine out of ten times before this, if Percy thought you were going to hit him, you hugged him, or indeed kissed him."

"Sorry to disrupt your data," Annabeth gave him a strange look.

"On the contrary, it's just a new variable," he shook his head, still studying the book like it was his thesis assignment.

Annabeth glanced at Percy wondering how he didn't feel like a lab rat. He was still grinning at her without a care in the world. He hoped he proved to her he wasn't a coward. That she'd only said no because she hadn't wanted to jinx it again. Not for other possible reasons like she'd rather go kiss Luke right now.

I figured it was the best offer I would get, so I stepped out from behind the school bus. I walked up the bridge in plain sight, straight toward the enemy.

When the Minotaur saw me, his eyes burned with hate. He bellowed—a sound that was somewhere between a yell, a moo, and a really loud belch.

Alex waved her hand in front of her nose like she could smell such a thing all the way down here, and Percy envied those who couldn't.

"Hey, Beef Boy," I shouted back. "Didn't I kill you already?"**

"Percy over here losing track of how many monsters he's killed," Magnus sighed.

"I just wish I had the gun and actual kill count to match," Percy frowned. Everything he'd done up to this point did not make him feel prepared to stare down this monster that had made him feel more lost in his life than any after. He wished he had that horn on him to stab the Minotaur in a few more places.

He pounded his fist into the hood of a Lexus, and it crumpled like aluminum foil.

"Is cow insurance a thing in New York?" Magnus couldn't help but ask how that paperwork would go for the poor owner.

"Is cow insurance a thing period?" Percy looked around.

"Yes Percy," Will sounded tired though, not at all his usual chipper way of talking and it got all attention. He kept replaying the moment over and over when Percy had killed him the first time in his head, but it wasn't making this feeling any better.

Nico cleared his throat and quickly kept reading, but it didn't stop the lingering looks as Percy's stomach continued to churn up painfully within.

A few dracaenae threw flaming javelins at me. I knocked them aside. A hellhound lunged, and I sidestepped. I could have stabbed it, but I hesitated.

He'd just witnessed one of those murdering a camper, and still he couldn't overcome his greatest weakness, his compassion. Magnus found it admirable, honestly, but he also kind of wanted to stick a pin in Percy's weak spot and remind him to stop being an idiot right now.

This is not Mrs. O'Leary, I reminded myself. This is an untamed monster. It will kill me and all my friends.

It pounced again. This time I brought Riptide up in a deadly arc. The hellhound disintegrated into dust and fur.

Thalia bit back a sigh of regret anyways. Just because it was untamed didn't mean it deserved to die. These weren't wild animals though, she had to remind herself too. It wouldn't just stay in its natural habitat if humans didn't bother it, these things actively sought out and killed half-bloods. Their place in nature was to be vaporized by them only to be reborn.

More monsters surged forward—snakes and giants and telkhines—but the Minotaur roared at them, and they backed off.

Jason really wished Tyson was around right now just to translate. He got the gist of course, but it still would have been fascinating to know the words the Minotaur used.

"One on one?" I called. "Just like old times?"

The Minotaur's nostrils quivered. He seriously needed to keep a pack of Aloe Vera Kleenex in his armor pocket, because that nose was wet and red and pretty gross. He unstrapped his axe and swung it around.

It was beautiful in a harsh I'm~going~to-gut~you~like~a~fish kind of way.

"Is that what all fish think before they bite the hook that ends them?" Nico asked in mild fascination. "This worm is beautiful and oddly shiny."

"I don't ask, I don't fish," Percy frowned at him oddly like it wasn't his own mind's choice of words to prompt that.

Each of its twin blades was shaped like an omega: Ω—the last letter of the Greek alphabet.

Jason leaned over so eagerly to see the symbol for himself he nearly headbutted Nico.

"Looks like an upside-down U," Nico told with a grin.

"A fancy upside down U," Percy agreed, "with curlies on the side."

"How many letters are in the Greek alphabet?" Magnus frowned. "And why do I feel like they're all going to bite Percy in the ass at some point." At least two of them already hadn't been that great.

"Twenty-four," Annabeth answered.

"And no, there's not a cool song," Thalia grinned before Alex could ask, making her slump in her seat in disappointment, only to wind back up a second later and mutter about making her own.

Maybe that was because the axe would be the last thing his victims ever saw. The shaft was about the same height as the Minotaur, bronze wrapped in leather. Tied around the base of each blade were lots of bead necklaces. I realized they were Camp Half-Blood beads—necklaces taken from defeated demigods.

"Oh," Annabeth murmured in understanding long after she didn't need to as bile rose in her. She remembered every step Percy had taken, about a dozen, to banish this monster back to the abyss.

She was now surprised it had even taken that many as angry as he'd be seeing that as a trophy.

I was so mad, I imagined my eyes glowing just like the Minotaur's.

Where was Rachel around to sketch this, Alex thought with relish. She immensely enjoyed Percy's most destructive side, and most of all, where it stemmed from. She craved to get that image into solid marble somehow, of a protective, fierce warrior in all the right ways. Even if Percy would protest every chip away.

I raised my sword. The monster army cheered for the Minotaur, but the sound died when I dodged his first swing and sliced his axe in half, right between the handholds.

"Moo?" he grunted.

"Percy, the cow whisperer," Nico said with a soft chuckle at the actual question mark there. It always was fascinating when one could tell an animal was whole-heartedly confused by something.

Will smiled, the first time he had all chapter. Just a little quirk of the lips, but enough it was clear his thoughts flickered to something other than the ending of this where that bridge was doomed to take his brothers and sisters down. Like he wanted to laugh, and maybe even call back to saying he'd never actually been around cows and might have understood the Minotaur.

It was fleeting and didn't last that long, but Nico still felt a sense like he was doing something right he rarely got to feel.

"HAAA!" I spun and kicked him in the snout. He staggered backward, trying to regain his footing, then lowered his head to charge.

He never got the chance. My sword flashed—slicing off one horn, then the other.

"Percy has officially graduated from taking more than one slice to defeat a monster," Thalia snorted, before back peddling, "no, wait, that's worse."

"Now he's just showing off and will still kill it," Jason nodded.

There was an odd moment of silence, where they all finally realized what they were waiting on, but Will didn't butt in with a pun on his name at all.

Nico had easy access to his hand always on his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. He simply nodded and Nico kept going while Percy's hands started to shake. His confidence slipping by the word.

Just because he could finally vanquish a nightmare away didn't mean more weren't always lurking.

He tried to grab me. I rolled away, picking up half of his broken axe. The other monsters backed up in stunned silence, making a circle around us. The Minotaur bellowed in rage. He was never very smart to begin with, but now his anger made him reckless.

"Why are idiots always so predictable?" Jason rolled his eyes.

"Does that make Percy a genius?" Annabeth grinned at her boyfriend, who beamed with pride at the slightly backhanded compliment.

Jason snorted lightly, but he was suddenly rather grateful that Percy's temper which usually did lead him to do impulsive and insane things wasn't what had been 'enhanced' instead of his heart.

He charged me, and I ran for the edge of the bridge, breaking through a line of dracaenae.

The Minotaur must've smelled victory. He thought I was trying to get away.

"Never, ever assume Percy is running from a fight," Will muttered a life lesson he'd clearly taken out of this, as if he'd actually try and pass it along to the next foolish monster and then watch as they didn't listen.

In this one case, he wished he was wrong. That Percy had jumped off the bridge in hopes the army would follow him. His plan had worked, as usual, but the consequences had been deadlier than ever.

His minions cheered. At the edge of the bridge, I turned and braced the axe against the railing to receive his charge. The Minotaur didn't even slow down.

CRUNCH.

"I feel like someone should have gotten that on video," Magnus said in admiration. "Crazy Percy Plan 101."

"We really should add that to the orientation video," Nico agreed with a sideways look at Will. He'd been hoping he'd ramp up to his usual and agree he'd get the costumes ready, but no, Nico had definitely pushed his limit and he recognized that and moved on.

He looked down in surprise at the axe handle sprouting from his breastplate.

"Thanks for playing," I told him.

I lifted him by his legs and tossed him over the side of the bridge. Even as he fell, he was disintegrating, turning back into dust, his essence returning to Tartarus.

"What a fabulous prize, you'll beat that sphinx out of game show host easy Perce," Alex chuckled.

"I've told you a dozen times Alex, I'm done with the TV show life," Percy sighed.

"Eh, they'd never get your good angle anyways," she shrugged.

I turned toward his army. It was now roughly one hundred and ninety-nine to one. I did the natural thing. I charged them.

Nico read that with ease. It had always been the natural thing to do in his mind, of the Percy he'd built in his head. Reading it now, as a fact and knowing the real Percy only made it all the more true somehow.

"At least you were nearly invulnerable this time," Annabeth was still grumbling, considering she knew he'd do this with or without the curse.

You're going to ask how the "invincible" thing worked:

"We actually don't question your methods that much," Magnus admitted as he rubbed his chest, clearly saying it saved him from a heart failure or two being happier in ignorance over there imagining it just magically worked out.

"You should though," Annabeth sounded like she was trying to gently prepare a bunch of pre-schoolers about the real world. "It's always better to understand the methods behind his madness," she finished fondly.

"So that we can all repeat them at length," Alex nodded. Magnus looked between the two in betrayal for every part of this.

"No, I mean, yeah, but," Annabeth frowned at her before Nico read on like all the valid points had already been made.

if I magically dodged every weapon, or if the weapons hit me and just didn't harm me. Honestly, I don't remember. All I knew was that I wasn't going to let these monsters invade my hometown.

I sliced through armor like it was made of paper. Snake women exploded. Hellhounds melted to shadow. I slashed and stabbed and whirled, and I might have even laughed once or twice—a crazy laugh that scared me as much as it did my enemies. I was aware of the Apollo campers behind me shooting arrows, disrupting every attempt by the enemy to rally. Finally, the monsters turned and fled—about twenty left alive out of two hundred.

I followed with the Apollo campers at my heels.

Will just knew that if his brother had survived this, he would have told the most epic story around the campfire for the next year. Didn't matter what the others had gotten up to during all this, how many of them could actively say they'd fought side by side with Percy? Only Annabeth and Clriasse came close to sharing that honor. There were so many things Micheal should have been able to do...

The possibilities of what could have been for him felt like an arrow through the heart.

"Yes!" yelled Michael Yew. "That's what I'm talking about!"

We drove them back toward the Brooklyn side of the bridge. The sky was growing pale in the east. I could see the toll stations ahead.

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled. "You've already routed them. Pull back! We're overextended!"

Some part of me knew she was right, but I was doing so well, I wanted to destroy every last monster.

A hubris Annabeth rarely saw in him that made her shiver now. The curse nearly having its way in him, nearly overruling him.

Then I saw the crowd at the base of the bridge. The retreating monsters were running straight toward their reinforcements. It was a small group, maybe thirty or forty demigods in battle armor, mounted on skeletal horses.

"What is with the skeleton horses?" Magnus scowled. Of the few animals he liked, he found it pervasive that so many easily seemed to summon this. First Clrassie, then Hades, now this!

"Better than skeleton elephants?" Jason offered, a strange idea that lingered all the same of one in his mind he'd ridden atop of. Possibly into a similar enemy threat? Gods he wished his brain made more sense.

"Vaguely," Magnus didn't look all that much better as he grudgingly agreed.

One of them held a purple banner with the black scythe design.

The lead horseman trotted forward. He took off his helm, and I recognized Kronos himself, his eyes like molten gold.

Percy's heart dropped like someone had given his insides a good crunch in return. Someone had told.

The spy had told Kronos this was the bridge to hit, was the most vulnerable area. The weak spot on his back pulsed like it had grown its own miniature heartbeat as he shivered deep within for the loss he felt was coming.

Everything he'd done up to this moment had been for this chance, the mere possibility he'd have this fight.

Now he took one look into a face that had caused him more sleep paralysis than any monster.

Annabeth didn't even notice the way the water was tightening around them like lashings, as she'd winced for Percy once again just calling him Kronos. As if that were the only person he was facing.

Annabeth and the Apollo campers faltered.

Nico read that with a fair amount of disbelief. Like Percy hadn't come to a screeching halt with them?

The monsters we'd been pursuing reached the Titan's line and were absorbed into the new force. Kronos gazed in our direction. He was a quarter mile away, but I swear I could see him smile.

Percy would swear his face had stretched grotesquely doing it too, like his scar was about to split his face in half. The resemblance to Luke's mother had been uncanny.

"Now," I said, "we pull back."

Annabeth gave him a blatant, 'oh, now you listen to me look,' he must have missed at the time but got to admire now in all its correct glory. What would he do without her? Go charging right into the enemy, obviously.

The Titan lord's men drew their swords and charged. The hooves of their skeletal horses thundered against the pavement. Our archers shot a volley, bringing down several of the enemy, but they just kept riding.

"Retreat!" I told my friends. "I'll hold them.'"

In a matter of seconds they were on me.

Michael and his archers tried to retreat, but Annabeth stayed right beside me, fighting with her knife and mirrored shield as we slowly backed up the bridge.

Will was leaning forward in his seat now, his heart pounding so loud in his ears he almost couldn't hear Nico. Gods, he almost didn't want to hear this, the coming downfall, even as he visualized every detail vividly instead of hiding in a tent this time.

Kronos's cavalry swirled around us, slashing and yelling insults. The Titan himself advanced leisurely, like he had all the time in the world. Being the lord of time, I guess he did.

"Whoever gave him that title should be boiled in glue," Alex scowled.

"Erm," Annabeth made a face she didn't know how to explain in short enough words to keep her attention you couldn't do that to Gaea.

It wouldn't have phased Alex if she'd bothered to try anyways.

I tried to wound his men, not kill.

Nico's voice strangely eased up some, to Percy's buzzing ears as he felt like he was straddling a tightrope, but Nico's wasn't the only one. He didn't get it, but the others were more relieved than they'd admit at Percy continuing to do this, show his hesitation to those kids did ease up some of his earlier, casual dismissal of those on the river. Like on the Princess Andromeda. He just couldn't do it in cold blood, and that was of some relief the war and this curse hadn't possessed him wholly.

That slowed me down, these weren't monsters. They were demigods who'd fallen under Kronos's spell. I couldn't see faces under their battle helmets, but some of them had probably been my friends. I slashed the legs off their horses and made the skeletal mounts disintegrate. After the first few demigods took a spill, the rest figured out they'd better dismount and fight me on foot.

Annabeth and I stayed shoulder to shoulder, facing opposite directions. A dark shape passed over me, and I dared to glance up. Blackjack and Porkpie were swooping in, kicking our enemies in the helmets and flying away like very large kamikaze pigeons.

Alex snorted in her usual delight of all things chaotic, and nobody would really be surprised if she started a flock of pigeons trained to do this in the fortnight she got out of here.

We'd almost made it to the middle of the bridge when something strange happened.

I felt a chill down my spine—like that old saying about someone walking on your grave. Behind me, Annabeth cried out in pain.

Percy moved, every drop of the ocean urging him forward as he found himself on his feet. A pain, deeper than anything he'd ever felt before spurring him to draw his sword-

"Percy!" Annabeth was right in his face, cupping his cheeks, nearly nose to nose with him.

"He, he hurt," he was stammering, his eyes a memory away as Riptide stayed poised in his hand, the flat of it against her hip. She smiled and pressed their foreheads together without concern.

"I know. I know he hurt us. Just breathe."

His sword fell. He pressed his hands against her shoulders and leaned in to kiss her.

She melted into him, throwing her arms around his neck. This, she thought with ecstasy as her lips eagerly drank him in as if never getting enough. This kiss, this should have been their first kiss.

"Dude!"

Percy leaned back with a frown at whoever had interrupted him, then sheepishly took a small step back from Magnus's cousin as Annabeth's shaky breath lingered on the corner of his trembling mouth.

Alex was still smacking the side of her head to get all the water out of her ears and Will was trying to flop his dripping wet hair out of his eyes, but Magnus was ignoring these minor problems as he looked on in exasperation at the pair.

Percy swallowed a new apology as he looked worriedly around the room. There were now gaps in the walls, large enough to put feet through. He'd obviously been about to lose his temper big time.

Annabeth was running her fingers through his hair, distracting him from whatever doom was probably a snap away, her other hand was still holding tight to his wrist on her shoulder like she wanted to ignore the interruption and keep him there forever.

Will wouldn't have let them even if Magnus hadn't interrupted. A sharp clearing of his throat reminded the two quickly they were in the middle of a battle, and they weren't the only two on that bridge.

He was the one to steer her back to their spot, to force his body to cooperate and keep them on the same level as the others while she didn't take her eyes off him.

"Annabeth!" I turned in time to see her fall, clutching her arm. A demigod with a bloody knife stood over her.

Nico frowned in mild sorrow for this poor dead guy who had probably just hit public enemy number one territory over Kronos. Nico was surprised he hadn't seen a dartboard with this helmet somewhere around camp for Percy to vent on. He knew Percy wasn't a saint, above killing, and this person had just stabbed that into reality.

In a flash I understood what had happened. He'd been trying to stab me. Judging from the position of his blade, he would've taken me—maybe by sheer luck—in the small of my back, my only weak point.

Annabeth had intercepted the knife with her own body.

But why? She didn't know about my weak spot. No one did.

Annabeth could feel the questions surrounding her from the others more than she did the salt water, more than Percy finally being entirely wrapped around her. Even Thalia was looking around Percy to study her curiously for an explanation she'd never gotten of details.

She just stared straight ahead at the book and didn't offer anything. She could have said it was a gut feeling, like Percy so often said he got, and they might have bought that. She could have just said it was a reflex, she'd seen what was coming for him and hadn't taken the split second of movement inside herself that was no real choice but a simple shift of her weight to protect him without that curse even crossing her mind.

The truth was, it was none of that, and all of it. She hated not being able to explain something, but she couldn't do any research on this moment until someone found a way to interrogate her knife on what happened for an objective third-party point of view.

I locked eyes with the enemy demigod. He wore an eye patch under his war helm: Ethan Nakamura, the son of Nemesis.

"Boy sure is living up to his damned mother right now," Thalia said in blackened disgust. If he wasn't dead already by Percy's hand, she'd be happy to take up the hunt and be a nemesis to the one who had caused as much destruction on their world as Luke for all his awful, repeated, back-to-back choices.

Somehow he'd survived the explosion on the Princess Andromeda. I slammed him in the face with my sword hilt so hard I dented his helm.

The fact that that was his response and his brain wasn't leaking out of that helmet was a kind of restraint Jason didn't think he'd have in him. If somebody had hurt Thalia, any of his friends, they'd be fried like a fish without hesitation.

The idea bothered him for some reason, as he traced his tattoo and studied Percy and Annabeth, now holding each other close in those beanbags with nothing at all in the way, past or future. He had his arm around her waist, his thumb rubbing soothing circles into her hip absent mindedly as he watched the book with a harsh scowl. She was resting on his shoulder, once injured arm hidden from sight as she pressed in close. There was a sad smile in place, but a peaceful one for getting this back, the person she'd wanted since he'd vanished, even amid the battle being far from over.

Jason felt empty as he watched. Nothing in his past could connect to what he was seeing. He had no feeling to relate that to anyone, and it wasn't because he couldn't remember them. They just didn't exist in his world.

"Get back!" I slashed the air in a wide arc, driving the rest of the demigods away from Annabeth.

"No one touches her!"

The protective instinct was a malnourished one in Alex. With Adrian, they'd always had each other on equal ground. She'd felt it flare up a few times around these guys, mostly picturing Percy much smaller and younger facing certain aspects of this alone.

The few group homes she'd wound up in had been a nice delusion of this kind of person existing in her mind, but that was about it.

"Interesting," Kronos said.

He towered above me on his skeletal horse, his scythe in one hand. He studied the scene with narrowed eyes as if he could sense that I'd just come close to death, the way a wolf can smell fear.

Magnus often felt like a part of his life would never be able to look away from those glowing blue eyes in the face of such a monster that had killed his mom, but for once he barely flinched at the idea of a wolf as he kept eyes on his cousin. She seemed at peace, for the first time in here, truly comfortable. He was happy for her, that she'd gotten that explicitly with one person in her life, even being trapped down here so at least he wouldn't have to worry if she was actually alive somewhere.

"Bravely fought, Percy Jackson," he said. "But it's time to surrender . . . or the girl dies."

Thalia knew that hesitation in those last four words was from Nico reading for Kronos, not his own pause of saying something like that.

What killed her in that moment was that Luke hadn't woken up in there. That those eyes hadn't flashed blue upon seeing Annabeth like this. She knew he was capable of it, otherwise this couldn't have ended any other way, but she still felt hurt it hadn't been this. Thalia would have done anything to get Annabeth out of that situation just like Percy, why hadn't he?

"Percy, don't," Annabeth groaned. Her shirt was soaked with blood. I had to get her out of here.

"Still want that lucky kiss?" Annabeth shook her head as her hand came up to clench the old wound.

"From you? Always," Percy said, staring at her with the same smile he'd always had upon that first day in Camp. His mom had been presumed dead, he'd felt out of place and lost in his new home, but still he'd smiled at her just as he was now when she hadn't intervened upon his fight with Clarisse.

"Blackjack!" I yelled.

As fast as light, the pegasus swooped down and clamped his teeth on the straps of Annabeth's armor.

They soared away over the river before the enemy could even react.

"Best, pegasus, ever," Percy murmured for her ears alone. He wished he could wrap her in a blanket and possibly post Tyson over her bed to make sure she was never in this kind of danger again.

That just wasn't their life, even the fleeting idea felt ridiculous and she'd get herself out and then smack him on her way to the next thing he couldn't deal with without her.

"Yeah," she grinned up at him, like they were in their own little bubble of a world for just that moment again before Nico popped it as he kept reading without surprise. He'd known she survived, this wasn't his concern in the slightest. She still felt like slamming the book shut and taking a second to breathe as she still felt Percy's lips on hers, but that was his call, she was just along for the ride now.

Kronos snarled. "Some day soon, I am going to make pegasus soup.

"Talk about friends for dinner," Will frowned, dredging up a new kind of scowl as he saw the last page left lingering in Nico's hand. Was Percy even going to notice the fallout as he ran off after her the second he got?

"We will not be talking about that," Percy gave him an intense look, Micheal's thin, ferret-like face and dark hair looked nothing like Will really, but something of their noses and sharp eyes tried to overlap in Percy's brain all the same as he kept trying to pull Annabeth closer.

It was an odd moment where one easily ignored the other's random comment, lost in their own worlds.

But in the meantime . . ." He dismounted, his scythe glistening in the dawn light. "I'll settle for another dead demigod."

"He should settle for a lot lower," Alex scowled. "More so-so problems like the rest of us, bad hair day and morning breath. Hell, one night standards aren't even something to be looked down on as a standard."

She got a lot of blank stares for that and grinned they just didn't have the imagination to conjure up Kronos trying to pick out his wardrobe and checking his cowlick in the mirror.

I met his first strike with Riptide. The impact shook the entire bridge, but I held my ground. Kronos's smile wavered.

'Not so easy when you can't just win with a flick of your wrist,' Jason sneered. He kept the thought to himself only because he wanted to hear more of Percy kicking his ass to badly to bother with the obvious interruption.

With a yell, I kicked his legs out from under him. His scythe skittered across the pavement.

"Look who could kick a fridge across a room now," Nico told him without looking up.

"Oh yeah, you just know I'll do that in my mom's apartment and feel guilty as hell for it," Percy nodded.

I stabbed downward, but he rolled aside and regained his footing. His scythe flew back to his hands.

Percy replayed that in his head a couple of times with annoyance. Why couldn't the gods just do that so easily when they lost their crap? Why couldn't Riptide do that instead of having to wait precious moments to return to his pocket? Then Nico kept reading and he had to remind himself that really wasn't the point right now.

"So . . ." He studied me, looking mildly annoyed. "You had the courage to visit the Styx. I had to pressure Luke in many ways to convince him.

Annabeth's mouth opened in a gaping display of all her teeth Percy tried not to be to phased at. This obviously hurt her, he tried to pull her somehow closer and she willingly went like she couldn't get enough, but he didn't need to be a mind reader to know that her every thought was now plagued with Luke, again. What pressures Kronos had used, how many times had he refused before he gave in, what had been the catalyst?

Percy moved his hand to her other arm, rubbing his palm gently up and down there like he was trying to warm her as she started shivering. He remembered Hermes's harsh words, that must have been the god's idea of some bizarre scenario about her missing a chance to save him. From what he could tell, she'd done everything and more than what was ever asked of her in that regards.

If only you had supplied my host body instead . . .

Percy would rather have live bugs crawling inside him than that sense of disgust that just passed through him. Thankfully the closest Kronos would ever get to his mind was annoying his dreams.

But no matter. I am still more powerful. I am a TITAN."

He struck the bridge with the butt of his scythe, and a wave of pure force blasted me backward. Cars went careening. Demigods—even Luke's own men—were blown off the edge of the bridge.

Not that this surprised a single one of them, but they all flinched anyways. It's like Kronos was broadcasting why Percy would never give him more than a finger of his time.

Suspension cords whipped around, and I skidded halfway back to Manhattan.

I got unsteadily to my feet. The remaining Apollo campers had almost made it to the end of the bridge, except for Michael Yew, who was perched on one of the suspension cables a few yards away from me, his last arrow was notched in his bow.

"Michael, go!" I screamed.

At least he'd tried, Will swallowed down a painful knot. He sort of wanted to hug Percy for that, and also shove a soiled bandage up his nose for not dragging him back kicking and screaming like he would have if it were Grover.

"Percy, the bridge!" he called. "It's already weak!"

He should have been fine, Will kept thinking over and over in his head. Micheal had once hung from his feet like a trapeze artist to aim his shot, he'd move across beams in pouring down rain and his balance was better than some kid who knew ballet. Will had already been a few inches taller than him at thirteen but had nothing on Micheal's ability to jump to any new perch he needed for a better vantage point on the thinnest of tree limbs. He should have been able to make it...

At first I didn't understand. Then I looked down and saw fissures in the pavement. Patches of the road were half melted from Greek fire. The bridge had taken a beating from Kronos's blast and the exploding arrows.

"Break it!" Michael yelled. "Use your powers!"

Kayla had told him in a broken voice those were Micheal's last words, that he'd encouraged Percy to do this and he'd of course succeeded in completing that blast to his full ability. Will didn't blame him, truly, but...

Percy never would have done that if Annabeth had been the one on that suspension line.

It was a desperate thought—no way it would work— but I stabbed Riptide into the bridge. The magic blade sank to its hilt in asphalt. Salt water shot from the crack like I'd hit a geyser. I pulled out my blade and the fissure grew. The bridge shook and began to crumble. Chunks the size of houses fell into the East River. 

Even if they'd kept that stupid chariot for themselves he still wouldn't have survived, Will kept swallowing and it hurt more every time. None of them had enough practice steering it through debris raining down, could have gotten out in time to catch him. There was nothing anybody could have done to prevent this. He was gone. He shouldn't be, but he was.

Kronos's demigods cried out in alarm and scrambled backward. Some were knocked off their feet.

Austin had watched, his scream unheard in the noise as Micheal had lost his previously flawless balance on his perch. He'd tried to regain it, throw his bow and grab that cable with both hands, but he'd seen the panic, then acceptance as his feet lost against the force.

He and Kayla had been whispering about it when Will had come upon them hours later, their voices petrified like they'd slip off the edge of the world next while Eliza had been crying at the shore feet away watching the rest of their siblings continue the fruitless search.

Within a few seconds, a fifty-foot chasm opened in the Williamsburg Bridge between Kronos and me.

"Titan schmiten," Alex muttered, "I want whatever coked up shit Percy's on." Percy only hadn't won that fight because there were innocents around, she was sure of it after a display of power like that.

"Gods I hope you're kidding," Magnus sighed, knowing there wasn't a force on earth to stop Alex bathing in the styx if she really wanted to. He wondered vaguely who her godly parent was without much care and if they'd carelessly agree or try to warn her away. Even Posideon hadn't done much of either though so he wasn't sure what the basis of a god's opinion on this even was.

The vibrations died. Kronos's men crept to the edge and looked at the hundred-and-thirty-foot drop into the river.

I didn't feel safe, though. The suspension cables were still attached. The men could get across that way if they were brave enough. Or maybe Kronos had a magic way to span the gap.

Nico's brain easily filled in the gaps, of Kronos snapping his fingers and time reversing to put those chunks back together like nothing, to play the planet like a toy and reverse it to do his bidding like nothing had happened.

He wished he could do that for Will now, as a few silent tears fell, smudging the words on the page. He was sitting so close he could feel every breath, every bony press of his lightweight that had never once felt intrusive through his thick jacket.

While Nico might have asked for more breaks in here than anyone, he didn't feel the least bit self-conscious to do so again, especially not on Will's part if he needed a second. His hand was steady on his arm though. Nico wasn't entirely convinced that was a good measure on Will, he was always that steady, but he also trusted Will to admit when he needed something like that considering he'd been the one impressing upon Nico to do the same.

The Titan lord studied the problem. He looked behind him at the rising sun, then smiled across the chasm. He raised his scythe in a mock salute. "Until this evening, Jackson."

Jason instantly narrowed his eyes suspiciously at that. Why would sunrise stop Kronos? Even Alex's blasie' joke about vampires he vaguely heard didn't cut through his intense concentration of trying to understand what scheme was being plotted, that would take so long to set in instead of leaping across that space and accomplishing the maximum amount of distraction now when Percy was shaken and his forces weakened.

He mounted his horse, whirled around, and galloped back to Brooklyn, followed by his warriors.

I turned to thank Michael Yew, but the words died in my throat. Twenty feet away, a bow lay in the street. Its owner was nowhere to be seen.

Why did it hurt worse knowing this would be the outcome all along, Nico frowned. He'd known Will was the head of his cabin, obviously his older brother would have died on this bridge, but still he'd spent every word up to this point hoping in vain he was wrong. That Will wasn't hurting because of that, but some other problem like they'd run out of ambrosia. Like knowing the second Percy had found himself on the edge of that desert his sister was on her last moments of life and still spending the entire time in here wishing he was wrong.

'Because you'd hoped for the best anyways,' a small little voice whispered in his mind that sounded suspiciously like Will. He'd never been an optimist before, he wanted to give that thought a good hand wave away, but he instead sat in a long moment of silence nobody broke as he watched Will's sad blue eyes lost in his own thoughts.

"Oh," Percy's quiet whisper was the first to break the long-held breath. He felt the instinct to dive into the water and find him, but finally the look on the son of Apollo's face connected with the pain in Percy's head he hadn't wanted. "Will, I'm, I'm so sorry." He wanted to get angry. He wanted to get in Clarisse's face and ask if she was happy now. His hands wanted to throw Riptide far away and hope it never came back this time at his own capability of destruction. How had he not accidentally killed Nico?! He clearly had no real control over the chaos he brought to everyone's life.

"Yeah, me too," Will didn't sound angry, just tired. Tired of losing people, tired of the days he spent at camp with the weight of his siblings on his back when all he wanted to do was curl up and sleep. Tired of the guilt that would never let him do more than grit his teeth but get up all the same to see what they needed instead of muttering where to find someone else.

Having to adjust to three heads of a cabin in less than a year could do that to you.

"No!" I searched the wreckage on my side of the bridge. I stared down at the river. Nothing.

I yelled in anger and frustration. The sound carried forever in the morning stillness. I was about to whistle for Blackjack to help me search, when my mom's phone rang. The LCD display said I had a call from Finklestein & Associates—probably a demigod calling on a borrowed phone.

Magnus silently showed Alex the sign for lawyer he randomly remembered, his smile forced, but his mind amusedly offering up the image all the same of someone trying to deliver Percy court documents at a time like this.

Will had heard all of that, back in his tent. The destruction, Percy's scream, then the sound of more phones ringing as he'd been checking a boy's IV he didn't even know the name of, he must have gotten there mere weeks ago. The Williamsburg Bridge had been so close by, he'd known.

He'd kept working, putting it all away like the rest of the kids crying in pain around him until Percy had come bursting through the tent. He'd expected Percy to tell him what he'd already known. Instead he'd yanked him out babbling about Annabeth and Will had gone, handing over his clipboard to Eliza who was six and trying to give her messages to others to far spread out right now to convey everything he needed.

Hoping on the back of that bike and seeing the bridge as they sped off had been his split second to see it was true before he'd shut his eyes and felt it all for that flight over there only before it was right back to work.

I picked up, hoping for good news. Of course I was wrong.

"Percy?" Silena Beauregard sounded like she'd been crying.

She had, actually, on and off so much her siblings had seemed more worried for her than Annabeth unable to stay on her feet. Annabeth felt a faint moment of amusement as she imagined Percy leaping off the ground, cartoon-style exclamation point over his head and everything in fear as he threw the phone away at the mere idea of being back around a crying girl.

That wasn't fair, and a wild exaggeration she knew. Not after he'd tried to comfort her at Becekendorf's funeral.

Apparently it was just her crying he couldn't seem to handle.

"Plaza Hotel. You'd better come quickly and bring a healer from Apollo's cabin. It's . . . it's Annabeth."

If Nico couldn't look up from that and see her sitting right in front of him, he'd be half convinced Annabeth really was dead somewhere out there just from the universe laughing at him having to read that. Somehow, even in the retelling of Percy's life, death seemed to follow him specifically.

Will didn't reach for the book next. He still stayed tightly pressed against Nico as he gazed vacantly at nothing like the words hadn't quite registered a passing of the book should be coming by tone alone.

But Percy was shivering anxiously, lost in memory to know in as explicit detail as possible how Annabeth was alive as she curled into his side now.

So what was he supposed to do?

PJOPJOPJOPJO

*That is a quote from Homeward Bound II, and I tried to look up if it was a misquote done on purpose by the original character but couldn't find anything.

**This is a quote from Hellboy, and while not exactly an exclusive line only to him and Percy, I couldn't stop laughing when I read it in Ron Pearlmen's voice while picturing Percy and that's why I've been on the movie kick with him lately.

[bey0nd-1he-stars]

You owe me at least three days of rest in the infirmary - Solangelo

Masterlist

Part 1 Part 3

Pairing: Nico di Angelo x Will Solace

Wordcount: 1107

Warnings: mentions of trauma, nightmares, wounds, implied death (Bianca)

Summary: The three says in the infirmary with some change.

TWO | NICO

- I’m so afraid of losing something I love,

that I refuse to love anything -

The bed Nico had been led to was more comfortable than he'd like to admit. The soft covers were pulled over his body and the fluffy pillows were way softer than the ones he had in his own cabin. Will was working on some other patients, humming quietly on some old greek song Nico didn't recognise. Although the bed was like lying on a cloud and the covers felt like they were made of silk, Nico didn't go to sleep. He hadn't slept much since Tartarus and the only times he'd rested were the times he was knocked out unconscious. Since he came back up from that hell of a place he was pretty much running on an adrenaline kick and a prayer. When the sleep took over him the nightmares came back, and he'd had enough of Tartarus for a lifetime.

But to make Will happy and to not have him placing that disgusting, wet towel in his face, he pretended to be asleep anyways. Eyes closed and curled up into a ball. In the distance he heard the door open and someone stepped in.

"Careful, don't wake him up," Will whispered to someone and Nico recognised the sweet voice of his sister Hazel when she replied. She brushed away the locks from his forehead and pulled a hand through his messy hair. The touch was familiar and filled with love and care, but it was only Hazel he allowed to do that. He wasn't the one for physical touch but Hazel was something else. She was family. The only family he had left if you didn't count Hades. He felt Hazel sit down at the edge of the bed, her hand still stroking softly at his hair, just like Bianca used to do. Eventually her soft touch and the feeling of being exhausted became too much. He fell down a bit deeper into the mattress and sleep took over his whole body for the first time in ages.

"Still hiding," Cupid said, smashing another skeleton to pieces. "You do not have the strength."

"Nico," Jason managed to say, "it's okay. I get it."

Nico glanced over, pain and misery washed over his face. "No you don't," he said. "There is no way you can understand."

"And so you run away again," Cupid chided. "From your friends, from yourself."

Nico woke up and sucked in a sharp breath. He sat up and pulled a stressed hand through his messy hair and took in his soundings. The infirmary's clean walls met him and he let out a shaky breath. He was at Camp Half-Blood. Not Cupid's cave. Even though he'd cleared it up with Percy, telling him the truth after all these years, the dreams still came back. Never in his life had he felt so much anxiety, or anger for that matter, than back in Cupid's cave.

"You okay, di Angelo?" Will's voice beside him made him clear his mind. The tall blonde boy stood over him with a cup of water in his hand, looking concerned. Hazel had left for the gods knows how long ago.

"For how long was I gone?" Nico asked, avoiding his question and sitting up straighter in the bed. Will held out the water for him and Nico took it, gulping it down and placing the empty cup on the small table beside the bed.

"About 9 hours, are you okay?" Will asked again and dropped down to sit on the bed beside him. Nico rolled his eyes at him and nodded, "I'm fine."

Will gave him a small smile and hopped off the bed and walked away to an office chair on wheels and sat down there with a journal and a pen. Nico watched him silently, but it wasn't the greatest light in there. He glanced at the clock that hung on the wall and his eyes widened when he saw it was 3 am in the morning. What was Will doing in the infirmary now?

He shook his head so that the dark curls whipped in his eyes. Nico fell back down on the bed with a thud making the blonde boy look up from what he was doing. The dark haired boy groaned and covered his face with his hands. He was already bored and he'd been there for not even twelve hours. And he was stuck here for three more days. At least three days, Will had told him and that made him even more bored, just the thought of the possibilities that he may have to stay longer than that.

"You want something to eat?" Will's voice was closer than he thought it would be, startling him a little. He shook his head at the question. The covers he'd had on him fell down on the floor, the colder air hit him immediately. He shivered and then noticed that he was still wearing the floral print shirt that was completely torn up and his black jeans had a few holes in them. One of the holes in his shirt revealed one of the many hastily stitched up werewolf claw marks that had magically refused to heal. Unfortunately Will saw them when he picked up the covers from the floor. He froze in place and raised an eyebrow at him. After putting the comforter at the foot of Nico’s bed, Will walked away to get something and came back with a scissor, needle, tread, some clear liquid that would probably hurt as hell in contact with wounds, and a few cotton pads. He placed it all on the table beside Nico's bed and went to wash his hands.

"Lay down, you need to get those wounds stitched up properly," Will mumbled and Nico sighed but did as he was told. Will unbuttoned his shirt and a faint blush made its way to his cheeks. The silence was comfortable but it felt like it was too quiet for Will. Nico flinched when the cold metal of the scissor made contact with the wound on his arm but laid still.

"Are you always this quiet?" Nico mumbled and closed his eyes in pain and

Will pulled away the old tread from his skin. Will's frown disappeared at the question and a small smile made its way to his lips.

"No, but you are. It's no fun to talk to myself," he answered. Nico shrugged, he wasn't wrong, was he? "Stay still, or otherwise I may sew you in the shoulder or stick you with the needle," Will mumbled as he continued working, holding Nico's arm still. Oh boy, he thought, this would be a long three days.

[moa-broke-me]

Percy loves food.

If you ask him what he'd rather be doing at any moment, there's a 90% chance that he'll answer with one fast food chain or another.

And when he was still young and growing and fighting a literal war, he could justify how much he ate.

But now that those wars were over, he had little necessity for those extra calories.

So he trains, endlessly, pointlessly, sparring with Jason so often he's starting to get concerned. "Why are you training so hard?" He asks. "It's nearly every day now." Percy shrugs and says "you never know" But really, it's because he's afraid of what will happen to his body if he lets it rest for even a second.

And when Jason takes him to the hospital after he vomits in the middle of a sparring match from exhaustion and dehydration (ironic innit?), that's exactly what the doctor tells him to do. He's forbidden from training and sparring for two weeks, basically all heavy physical activity in fact.

He hates it. And he hates watching his body relax, watching the six pack slowly erode from his stomach. It's still there, but it's fainter, more like a four pack with his newfound softness. It's normal for a college age boy to look like this. But it's not normal for him, not when he's been fighting all his life. To him, he looks greedy. He looks lazy and selfish and...

And just like his stepfather.

Suddenly, he doesn't love food as much anymore.

By the time his two weeks are up, it's too late. It's the beginning of the end, at least, unless someone catches on. Nobody will, nobody could.

Not until months later, when Jason came in to use the bathroom, by sheer coincidence, right after Percy had finished breakfast.

His blood ran cold as he listened to Percy retch, listened to him struggle and gag and eventually empty himself just moments after he was filled.

He balled his shaking hand into a fist and knocked on the door. "Percy?" He asked. "... Are you okay?"

Percy burst into tears, laying his head on the toilet, the taste of vomit still in his mouth. It's disgusting. He's disgusting, his eyes watering, tears falling into the toilet. "... No."

Jason sighed. "I figured. Are you... doign what I think you're doing?"

He hesitated for a minute, but what was the point in lying? "... Yeah." He croaked out.

Jason whined in concern. "Can I come in?"

He sniffled. "... Ok."

Jason swung open the door and closed it behind him, kneeling next to Percy. He put his hand on Percy's back, feeling the knots of his spine through his shirt. "You can talk to me, y'know."

Percy leans into the touch. "I just... I hate my body." He knew he sounded like a teenage girl, and he didn't care. "I look like a pig."

Jason looked him up and down. He looked frail and sick. He's seen this before. "Percy... You don't look like a pig."

"Yes I do! I look like a big greedy pig that just eats everything and doesn't leave anything for anyone else! I look selfish, I look-"

"'Selfish' doesn't have a look."

"Yes it does, and it looks like my stepdad!"

Jason paused, confused. "... Paul?"

"No, the... The other one. The bad one."

Jason hadn't known there was a 'bad one'. 'Bad' was probably an understatement. But he didn't miss a beat. "He was fat?"

"Yeah... And now I am too."

Jason wanted to tell him that he was anything but fat, but it wouldn't make a difference. He had to take a different approach. "... So is Frank. And I don't know much about your other stepdad, but Frank doesn't act anything like him, does he?"

Percy shook his head, a small smile forming on his face. "... No. Nico wouldn't allow him within 50 feet of Hazel if he did."

"Yeah... Fat doesn't mean selfish. It doesn't mean anything, it just... Is. Ok?"

They both knew it would be a long time before Percy recovered. That it would take even longer for him to truly get it. He needed more than a few feeble words.

But those words helped. They took the edge off, at least, gave him comfort and the reassurance that no matter what happens to his body, Jason's not gonna think badly of him for it.

He's safe to talk to.

He'll be there.

"Ok."

[doevademe]

Here is a “fun” idea, say during the events of House of Hades, everyone gets stuck in Tartarus, meaning everyone see Percy bend poison and almost kill a goddess. Everyone is freaked out by this, and keeps their distance from Percy, which makes him feel miserable. The only one who keeps by him, at least until everyone kinda gets over it and apologizes to Percy for treating him badly, is Nico, who is used to people being freaked with his scary powers. This really can happen whenever, it just would be interesting to see the Seven see this side to Percy and become scare of him while Nico is just like “he’s not scary he baby”

Percy sat away from the rest, hugging his knees as the rest discussed what to do now that they were out of Tartarus. Everybody kept glancing at him, as if worried he'd suggest joining Gaia or something.

After all they had been through they only saw him as a monster.

Well, with one exception.

"I'm going to leave soon," Nico informed him. Percy looked at him, worried. "If we want to stop the Roman attack, the Athena Parthenos needs to be brought back, but you guys are needed to stop Gaia."

Percy didn't want that. Nico was the only one who approached him without fear. The only one to actuslly tslk to him after... after the incident.

"You're going to Shadow Travel all the way to Camp?" Percy asked.

Nico shook his head.

"Doing that with the statue would kill me," Nico explained. "I'll make shorter jumps, and rest between them."

"I'll go with you," Percy offered. He didn't want to be alone with the rest of the crew. All judging him and too scared to even see where he was coming from. "You need someone to have your back while you rest!"

"You are one of the Seven, Percy," he said. "You have a role in this. Reyna and Coach Hedge are the ones who will go with me."

"I didn't vote on that!" He argued. Nico gave him a sardonic smile.

"You'd be outvoted," he said simply. "Come on, I plan on eating as much as I can before my first jump."

"So you can go farther?"

"So I don't pass out."

Percy chuckled, only to curl on himself again.

"You go," he said. "I don't want to ruin everyone's meal."

Nico stood up and held his hand. Percy observed it for a while.

"Take it," he ordered. Percy did as he was told. "This has gone long enough."

Before he could protest, Nico was dragging him to the picnic table where Piper had set a feast using the Cornucopia.

Everyone stopped eating as they approached. Nico didn't acknowledge them, just sat by Hazel's side with Percy on his right.

Reyna and Hedge looked around, confused, but the rest where looking between them, wondering what to say.

"You know," Nico started, his voice loud as he picked a piece of shephard's pie and put it on his plate. "I get it if you're wary of me."

"What?" Hazel asked. "Nico, it's not you—"

"I mean, child of death, creppy zombie powers, the ultimate outcast, I totally get it," Nico continued, ignoring his sister. He pointed at Percy, who gulped. "But him? He's one of you."

"You saw what he did down there, dude," Leo said quietly. "We all saw it."

Even Annabeth put her head down, and that hurt Percy the most. Nico frowned.

"Well, I'm sorry, next time he'll make sure to just burn down a warehouse with his mother inside." Nico's voice was full of venom. Leo looked as if he had been smacked.

Jason and Piper stood up, glaring at Nico.

"That's too far, di Angelo," Piper said dangerously. Jason glared at him.

"Oh, so now the girl who brainwashes others with her voice and the guy who can zap people out of existence claim the moral high ground," Nico said sarcastically, standing up to almost reach their height. "The dead talk, you know? I know what each of you has done."

"Nico, please..." Percy tried. Nico gave him an apologetic smile before turning to the others.

"See? I'm creepy, I'm unnerving, but you?" He pointed at them. "Each of you can be just as scary as Percy. Among this merry group we have deadly curses, accidental matricide, and a walking consent nightmare, and I know for a fact that most of you have killed more than just monsters."

Percy looked at Nico, feeling nothing short of admiration for his friend.

"Percy's only dangerous to his enemies," Hazel said quietly. "That's what you said, right?"

"We just didn't realize what the extent of 'dangerous' was," Frank added quietly, probably scared of Nico bringing up something he had done too.

"Well, congratulations on finding out," Nico said. He sat down and bit into the pie. "Most of you are older than me, so act your age, accept that Percy saved us, and get over yourselves."

Nico may or may not have muttered 'bunch of hypocrites' as he munched on his food. Percy would never tell.

"You are not unnerving, Nico," Percy said. Nico raised an eyebrow. "I mean, you can be, when you want to, but you're also very kind, and giving. You protect your friends and family with everything you have."

Nico blushed a bit. The others watched the exchange silently.

"This isn't about me, Percy," Nico said. "You guys need to work together, or else Gaia will rise and then it's game over." He gestured at the rest of the table.

Percy looked around and realized the others were deep in thought. Nico was right. None of them, except maybe Frank, could truly claim to be innocent.

Nico had made himself a target of the Seven's contempt for him. It felt like his chest was going to explode from feeling both sad for his friend and touched by his actions.

They continued eating quietly until Reyna approached them, telling Nico she would help him with the statue.

"Stay safe," Percy called. He had a new appreciation for the Son of Hades.

He hugged him, making Nico squeak.

"I won't be alone," he said against his ear. "And by the look of things, neither will you."

Nico pulled back. Percy turned and saw Annabeth approaching him hesitantly, guilt all over her face.

"Hey Seaweed Brain," she said, wincing. "I think we all need to talk."

Percy didn't know what to say, so he just nodded dumbly.

"See you later, Percy," Nico said behind him.

When he turned back, the son of Hades was already talking to Reyna as she helped tie up some ropes from the statue to Nico's back.

For some reason, his heart rate picked up at seeing him.

[vadergf]

Goodbyes

This was a request by @fanvergentinexistentialcrisis that tumblr ended up deleting instead of saving to drafts smh

Request: Reyna and Nico talking after Jason's death.

AU in which Reyna doesn't join the Hunters but still steps down as praetor.

Requests are still open so send them in!

"Reyna, please take a break," Nico begged.

Reyna shook her head absent mindedly, her hands filing a stack of papers into different categories.

Nico had his back pressed against the doorway, a concerned look on his face. "Rey, it's been months. Give yourself a break."

Reyna turned around to face him, her face showing annoyance. "I'm giving myself enough breaks, Nico. I just want to get my work done. And you and everyone else coming here asking me to "take a break" isn't helping me at all."

"Do you know how long it's been since you've eaten?"

Reyna shrugged. "I don't know. A couple of hours?"

Nico shook his head. "Reyna, you've been stuck in this room for two days."

Reyna blinked, slightly taken back. "Wow," she finally breathed out.

Nico strode over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Reyna, please. Talk to me. What's wrong? I thought the reason you left the praetorship was to let go of responsibilities and the stress and here you are again, finding it."

She sighed, burrowing her head in her hands. "Its too quiet, Neeks."

"Quiet??" Nico questioned, his expression showing his puzzled state of mind.

"I have time to myself and my brain is filled with so many thoughts and its driving me crazy. For the past year and more, I've kept myself so busy, practically running myself to the ground. And they kept me from thinking of everything happening. And then, I'm suddenly free and my mind is...just filled with so many intrusive thoughts and I just can't handle it."

"Reyna, oh gods," Nico whispered, wrapping his arms around her. "Why didn't you tell any of us?"

She looked up at him, her eyes filled with silent despair. "How could I, Nico? Everyone had their own problems and what would I tell them? How much I miss Jason?" She let out a bitter laugh. "Doesn't everyone?"

He said, "Rey, don't be so hard on yourself. You knew him longer. Of course, you'd feel hurt the most." After a pause, he added, "And what not with the previous year during the Giant War."

"I just can't help but feel so angry at myself. If I had just...been less cold, he wouldn't have gone to that boarding school. And he would've stayed here, at Camp Jupiter. Then he wouldn't have died. He would still be here and that's on me."

Nico said, his tone stern, "Reyna. This is not your fault. Of all the people, it's not your fault. Jason made his own decisions."

Reyna looked up to the ceiling, blinking away a few stray tears, "I know. I know. But it's just...hard. I didn't even get to say goodbye."

The room was silent for a while, the room filled with soundless comfort and pain.

Finally, Reyna said, "Did you talk to him? Did you summon his spirit?"

Nico's face hardened. "No, I...I couldn't bring myself to. I felt his spirit though. Go through the gates and enter Elysium. But I couldn't bring myself to summon him. Not alone."

Reyna gazed at him with pleading eyes, or as close as she could manage. "Could you...summon him?"

"Rey, its not him. Its merely a spirit. It might be hard to remember that when you see them but it is final," Nico warned.

"Yeah. I just, I just want to be able to say goodbye to him, you know."

Nico nodded. "Yeah. A goodbye sounds nice. I just wish we didn't have to though."

The room lapsed into silence again, before Nico started, "Well, when are you going to get me a Happy Meal?"

Reyna gave a short laugh. "Right now. Come on, Neeks," she said, ruffling his hair and grabbing her keys.

This sucks but if you read it till here, I love you!

Reblogs and comments are always appreciated

[ask-will-and-nico]

"I think time away," Nico says. He's hoping that returning home will help him feel freer to grieve. He doesn't want to burden Will and Jason every time he misses Bianca, but he does want to heal. It wasn't fair to her if he didn't remember. "Maybe clean up a little?" Jason shrugs. "Your dad's probably got some sort of staff there." Nico hums. "True, But I miss Italy." Jason nods. "I think it'll be good for you." Nico smiles. "I hope so. I want to heal."

-

"I don't know," he says after a few moments. "I don't know what will help me, but I need to go back. Even if for just a week." Jason nods. "Okay. You talk to Will and I can talk to Piper. We'll get you back to Italy." Nico nods. "I promise I'll come back," he whispers. "Here. To you and Will and Carter." Jason smiles. "We love you, Nico. It's not selfish to take some time for yourself." Nico hugs Carter close, smiling when Carter waves his octopus around. "I saw your whale this morning. Thank you.”

-/-/-

Carter smiled at him and stuck one of the tentacles in his mouth. Nico smiled and shook his head, kissing Carter’s temple. It’s quiet for a while, a pretty long while, before Nico heard the sounds of Will’s chair wheeling down the hallway. “Good morning,” Will said with a yawn. Nico waved, and Carter started bouncing when he saw Will. “Mama!” He shouted. Will smiled, wheeling over to the couch. “Must’ve been awfully tired,” Nico said softly. Will grunted. “Must have. You haven���t been up long, have you?” He asked. Nico shook his head.

[amyrose13]

What if...

(Bring loads of tissues and ice cream tubs before this could get angsty)

[Ella dies, and Percy still loves her and grieves over her death even when he moves on]

"No..."

Percy couldn't believed it at first. He didn't want to believe it.

But he could only watched with helpless horror as Ella's body dropped to the ground, her face facing the skies and her dirty yet magnificent eyes closes forever. There were splotches of red painting her face—her own blood—that came from the scars across her right cheek and above the bridge of her nose, and in her hand, was her knife, stained with the blood of a Laestrygonian giant.

No.

Nononono.

No. Gods, please no.

He fell to his knees, a wide-eyedblank look that borderlines his growing horror, indescribable grief, and crushing dread as Annabeth cradles close Ella's dead body on her lap as she wailed, tearing streaming down her cheeks.

"ELLA!" Annabeth screamed, her cries reaching to a high and heartbreaking pitch. "WHY?! Why her?! She didn't—She didn't deserved this!"

Even when her anguish screams and sorrow were louder at each words and sobs, Percy felt like everything had went silent.

Nico was on her knees, his sunken eyes staring at the dead child of Aphrodite with wide horror and rapid tears streaming down as he tries to form coherent words. "You promised," Nico sobbed, his voice cracking. "You promised, Ella..."

Piper couldn't bear to see her precious sister's dead body. She sobbed loudly, her own heartbreaking cries for her sister muffled against Jason's chest who wrapped his arms around her in a form of comfort. But even the son of Zeus was hurting. He stared at Ella's dead body with his eyes narrowed with heldback tears but a trail of tear after another slipped from his blue eyes as he viciously bit his lower lip until it bled like he was trying to hold back his own vocal agony.

Leo stared at Ella's corpse with a traumatized face, his eyes shaky with disbelief and grief. He and Ella were the Weepy Bitch Duo, and shared a bond so much like friends and so much like a family. But now? His Weepy Bitch is dead, and it felt like he was experiencing his mother's death all over again. Only so much worse.

Because Marcella Baxter deserves so much more than this... she deserves to live longer and be happy.

But a fucking damn Laestrygonian giant had to also taken that away from her.

Frank and Hazel were closely next to Annabeth, both whimpering in their tears and grief-stricken stifled sobs as they were whispering the dear name of Ella like it was made of glass like a broken record.

"Ella... w-wake up..." Percy croaked, his legs that felt like 200-pound rocks now slowly moving towards his girlfriend. He didn't realized how he fell to his knees as he reached out for Ella, nor acknowledging the flare of pain his knees felt. Nothing mattered.

He just wanted her. His Pretty Girl. His beautiful Dove. His world.

"E-Ella, come on. Wake up." He said, his voice fragile. He was like an innocent child trying to stir awake his mother as he shakily nudged Ella's shoulder. He held her body close to his chest.

He tried to hold her hand, hoping that it would wake her up.

Nothing.

Her hand was... cold. That's not normal. She was always wonderfully warm.

"C-Come on, Pretty Girl." He said, his voice painfully bright despite it trembling. "T-The war's over, see? W-We can go back home now. M-Mom's waiting for you. You didn't finished telling her about o-our trip to Bahamas, remember?"

Silence.

"Ella...?"

Anyone who wanted to tell him the undeniable truth didn't want to say anything to him. But Chiron, despite having such heavy and grieving heart for the girl who died and whom he watched grew up, straightened his shoulder as he walked forward to the son of Poseidon.

"Percy, that's enough." He said, terrifyingly calm and smooth.

"Ella, didn't you say you were going to beat me in Just Dance? We can do that now, y-know? I can let you win just this once, a-and we'll share blue cookies and cuddle all day long while you sing for me—"

"She's gone, Percy." Nico spat, his voice stuttering over his weak sobs.

The atmosphere went sharp and heavy.

Percy laughed. The sound of it was achingly high, and breakable. "No. No, no, come on. Seriously. She's just sleeping, right? She's tired. After all the fighting, looking after the new campers and cheerleadin practices, she just needs some rest. C-Come on, Grace, help me wake Sleeping Beauty up."

"Percy, please—" Annabeth whimpered.

"NO!" Percy shouted, his voice so furious, so sad, and so so grieving, that everyone took a step back. His sea green eyes were wide with fury, like they were all his enemies that he wanted to destroy, but seeing the steady streams of tears that fell on his cheeks reminded them just how much Perseus Jackson is hurting now.

"She's—She's not dead. She'sstillalive!" He panted, breathing heavily as he glared at his friends with a crazy angry look. "Stop looking like that like she's—she's—SHE'S STILL ALIVE, OKAY?!"

"Percy, you have to stop this!" Hazel begged. "Ella's—"

"—NO! SHUT UP!" Percy held Ella's frame close to him, his screams decreasing into broken sobs as he tightly latched onto his Pretty Girl's form like he was afraid of her disappearing into thin air once again. "She's not dead, okay...?! Not—Not Ella—Not my Pretty Girl..." he sobbed, his denial breaking into thousand pieces.

Everybody watched as Percy kissed Ella's forehead gingerly, shaking breathing in the scent of her vanilla hair like it was his air.

"My Pretty Girl..." he sobbed, his tears splattering onto Ella's pale face. "Not my pretty girl..."

Even in death, he marveled at her beauty. No one was just as magnificent, beautiful and unique as Ella Baxter.

.....

"This is Camp Half-Blood?"

Percy nodded, a small smile on his face as he walked next to a 7-year old new camper. "Yeah. What d'you think?"

"Groovy!" They beamed excitedly.

The son of Poseidon laughed as he led the young camper further in the camp grounds. He showed them the archery range, the dining pavilion and the strawberry fields.

"And over there is the lava-climbing wall—" Percy stopped short when someone called out his name from behind, turning around to see Annabeth jogging towards him.

"Hey, Wise Girl. What's up?" He teased.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Haha, very funny. Just checking up on our new camper since you might make something turn out wrong again." She said, crossing her arms.

"Hey, I'm not that bad!"

"Uh-huh." Annabeth nodded, dismissing Percy's indignant pout.

"Hey, whose cabin is that?" The camper asked, pointing at a—Percy's face fell when he saw Cabin 11.

"Oh..."

The camper looked at the cabin with awe. "It's a pretty cabin."

Annabeth looked at Percy worriedly. "Percy—"

"I-I just remember now!" Percy exclaimed, his voice strangely high-pitched. "Forgot to put up some mascara again today! Annabeth, please show around for me, will ya?"

Annabeth nodded, her face understanding and sad as Percy quickly walked past them and briskly walked towards the line of trees behind the cabins.

He dropped to his knees, his face tucked between his legs as he curled up into a ball. Percy slowly let out a small sob as he shook. The royal blue tube of black mascara in his pocket suddenly felt heavy and demanded of his attention, and he pulled it out with a trembling hand.

3 years. After he picked himself up after her death. And it still hurts as much as it always did when it happened.

He moved on. But he couldn't love anyone else. Not when she's always on his mind.

Teary-eyed, he tinkered with the royal blue tube of mascara and brought it close to his lips, kissing the tip with shaky breath. "Ella..." he whispered, his voice broken, sorrowful and longing. "My Pretty Girl..."

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 10: I SCOOP POOP

"Whoever said hard work builds character is built out of shit," Alex scowled as he read the new chapter title.

"Thank you," Percy said in surprise. "I was immediately thinking I was going to hear five different cracks about cleaning up my room."

"Your worst smelly socks never got that bad," Thalia said in mock hurt he would say such a thing.

"You're a turd blossom. There, that what you wanted?" Jason grinned.

"And I'm back to loathing these more every minute," Percy sighed.

I lost hope when I saw the horses' teeth.

"It wasn't the smell, it wasn't the time limit," Magnus agreed. "It was canines in the horse mouth, and frankly, I cannot blame you."

"There's some nightmare fuel I'd be willing to make," Alex snickered.

As I got closer to the fence, I held my shirt over my nose to block the smell. One stallion waded through the muck and whinnied angrily at me. He bared his teeth, which were pointed like a bear's.

I tried to talk to him in my mind. I can do that with most horses.

Hi, I told him. I'm going to clean your stables. Won't that be great?

Yes! The horse said. Come inside! Eat you! Tasty half-blood!

But I'm Poseidon's son, I protested. He created horses.

Usually this gets me VIP treatment in the equestrian world, but not this time.

"I'm sure you needed that humbling moment at least," Nico chuckled.

Yes! The horse agreed enthusiastically. Poseidon can come in, too! We will eat you both! Seafood!

"I think you should summon Poseidon there Percy," Thalia agreed sadly. "He'd make everything in a twelve mile radius vanish to the bottom of the ocean just for implying that."

"Not the outcome I'm particularly hoping for," Percy sighed.

Seafood! The other horses chimed in as they waded through the field.

Flies were buzzing everywhere, and the heat of the day didn't make the smell any better. I'd had some idea that I could do this challenge, because I remembered how Hercules had done it. He'd channeled a river into the stables and cleaned them out that way. I figured I could maybe control the water.

"Of course the part where Hercules didn't get eaten by the flesh eating horses is the part you forgot," Jason frowned.

"I just don't think they could have," Percy shrugged. Considering every monster he'd ever faced, he was pretty sure the guy was near invulnerable.

But if I couldn't get close to the horses without getting eaten, that was a problem. And the river was downhill from the stables, a lot farther away than I'd realized, almost half a mile. The problem of the poop looked a lot bigger up close. I picked up a rusted shovel and experimentally scooped some away from the fence line. Great. Only four billion shovelfuls to go.

The sun was already sinking. I had a few hours at best. I decided the river was my only hope. At least it would be easier to think at the riverside than it was here. I set off downhill.

"Can you summon a horse made of water and have it stampede through the place to wash everything?" Alex asked critically.

"I do not think so," Percy said, though not for lack of wanting to.

When I got to the river, I found a girl waiting for me. She was wearing jeans and a green T-shirt and her long brown hair was braided with river grass. She had a stern look on her face. Her arms were crossed.

"You haven't even met her yet and she's pissed at you," Jason began to clap slowly. "That's a new record Percy!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just full of those today," Percy groaned.

"Oh no you don't," she said.

I stared at her. "Are you a naiad?"

"I really didn't think she was the farmers daughter," Will snorted.

"Not chesty enough," Percy smirked. "Ouch!"

"Come on Percy, you should know better," Will shook his head as Thalia pulled out her knife next to smack him with.

She rolled her eyes. "Of course!"

"But you speak English. And you're out of the water."

"What, you don't think we can act human if we want to?"

"Note to self," Magnus promised. It was actually really beautiful, the more he thought about it, something his mother would have been delighted over. That everything in nature had a spirit, a life force, a name. He still remembered their long hikes and taking stops at spots just like this river, and it was an exhilarating moment to know he might go back there someday with a Greek kid to ask a naiad if they remembered Natalie Chase.

I'd never thought about it. I kind of felt stupid, though, because I'd seen plenty of naiads at camp, and they'd never done much more than giggle and wave at me from the bottom of the canoe lake.

"Once again, you're not stupid for not realizing something nobody explained to you," Thalia said robustly. "You never knew better before this point, and frankly, it's not something you figure out until it's bad news." She already had a bad feeling where this was going, and that time limit felt really pressing. Annabeth had told her what Percy had said he'd done, but she still felt anxious until it got to that point.

"Look," I said. "I just came to ask—"

"I know who you are," she said. "And I know what you want. And the answer is no! I'm not going to have my river used again to clean that filthy stable."

"Again?" Magnus asked with a kind of awe that had eluded him up to this point. "Wow," he couldn't imagine time stretching back that far, to when Hercules had done it first. Everything that had changed since, everywhere on the planet that wasn't changed like this river. It really pressed in like nothing before how timeless this world was.

Percy couldn't exactly share in his moment. All he'd heard was the word no, and all his friends were in danger.

"But—"

"Oh, save it, sea boy.

"I really should start calling you Seabiscuit," Thalia chuckled.

"Or Ponyboy," Alex tacked in.

Percy felt like he vaguely recognized both and rolled his eyes without care for whatever they were anyways.

You ocean-god types always think you're soooo much more important than some little river, don't you? Well let me tell you, this naiad is not going to be pushed around just because your daddy is Poseidon.

"Percy's never pushed anyone around," Will frowned, entirely hurt on Percy's behalf. "I'm sorry she's had bad experiences with other kids of Poseidon in the past, and that she's taking it out on you."

"Yeah," Percy agreed in a hollow kind of voice. This was going as bad as it possibly could, and he was starting to get a sick feeling the sea couldn't cure what the results might have been.

This is freshwater territory, mister. The last guy who asked me this favor—oh, he was way better-looking than you, by the way—he convinced me, and that was the worst mistake I've ever made! Do you have any idea what all that horse manure does to my ecosystem? Do I look like a sewage treatment plant to you? My fish will die. I'll never get the much out of my plants. I'll be sick for years. NO THANK YOU!"

"I bet Hercules didn't even apologize," Thalia sneered as she put a gentle hand on Percy's shoulder.

"Yeah," Percy said again, but it wasn't making him feel any better this time to realize that he might not be able to save his friends because he wasn't a jerk.

The way she talked reminded me of my mortal friend, Rachel Elizabeth Dare—kind of like she was punching me with words. I couldn't blame the naiad. Now that I thought about it, I'd be pretty mad if somebody dumped four million pounds of manure in my home. But still...

"I'm, um, guessing that much fertilizer isn't good for the environment," Magnus said unhelpfully.

"That is nature taking way to much into its course, which is never a good thing," Thalia agreed.

"My friends are in danger," I told her.

"Well, that's too bad! But it's not my problem. And you're not going to ruin my river."

"What do you even say to that?" Alex asked, answering his own question. There wasn't much Percy could do.

She looked like she was ready for a fight. Her fists were balled, but I thought I heard a little quiver in her voice. Suddenly I realized that despite her angry attitude, she was afraid of me. She probably thought I was going to fight her for control of the river, and she was worried she would lose.

Nico couldn't imagine many other half bloods in the same situation even stopping to realize the same thing. It was moments like this where he could still look at Percy and feel safe in knowing he was a hero, even if he wasn't infallible.

The thought made me sad. I felt like a bully, a son of Poseidon throwing his weight around.

I sat down on a tree stump. "Okay, you win."

"Any other person," Alex shook his head, "and I do mean any, other, person, I would have suspected of setting up some sort of trickery. Hell, maybe even you under other circumstances. I still remember how great of a water bed sales man you are." This naiad wasn't a monster though, and even if it took another four thousand years for her ecosystem to go back to normal with no permanent damage, it was a day longer than Percy was ever going to be willing to put her through.

The naiad looked surprised. "Really?"

"I'm not going to fight you. It's your river."

She relaxed her shoulders. "Oh. Oh, good. I mean—good thing for you!"

"Just admit it, she really had you on the ropes Percy," Jason grinned faintly just because he had faith it all worked out. Percy looked glum now because inspiration of a brilliant new way hadn't struck yet, he was sure of it, as chaotic a mastermind as he could be.

"It's a secret that should never leave this room," Percy managed a laugh, only proving Jason's assumption.

"But my friends and I are going to get sold to the Titans if I don't clean those stables by sunset. And I don't know how."

The river gurgled along cheerfully. A snake slid through the water and ducked its head under.

Will grimaced and was very grateful that wasn't some secret god about to pop up and help, he wouldn't have trusted it.

Finally the naiad sighed.

"I'll tell you a secret, son of the sea god. Scoop up some dirt."

"Is she going to have you build her a sandcastle to make up for this debacle?" Magnus grinned.

"That would be a fair trade," Percy said with a blank look. He hoped she wasn't about to tell him to shove it or something.

"What?"

"You heard me."

I crouched down and scooped up a handful of Texas dirt. It was dry and black and spotted with tiny clumps of white rock...No, something besides rock.

"Those are shells," the naiad said. "Petrified seashells. Millions of years ago, even before the time of the gods, when only Gaea and Ouranos reigned, this land was under the water. It was part of the sea."

"If she's going to punish me with a history lesson I'll take back the sandcastle," Percy's frown intensified where on earth she was going with this.

"Don't underestimate the past Percy, I'd have thought you learned that by now," Nico said with a raised brow. He'd heard through the walls that night, Percy explaining to Annabeth how he'd solved this problem and it was the naiad's idea. He'd been so exhausted by that point it had been like falling asleep listening to Percy telling him a story, what he'd been longing for weeks on end alone in that labyrinth. For the blurriest moment between sleep and nightmares, he'd swear he even felt a warm brush as if Percy had been there next to him.

His crush was gone, more or less, of that he was sure now. He didn't really want Percy's attention or affection anymore. Percy was an awakening of a part of him he still didn't particularly like.

It was so different hearing it played back in an actual memory, no grandiose exclamations and feats of power as he literally pulled the ocean up. Just a small, quiet moment with a little river spirit helping him solve a problem that Nico was beginning to appreciate more and more, to help Percy feel like a grounded, real person.

Suddenly I saw what she meant. There were little pieces of ancient sea urchins in my hand, mollusk shells. Even the limestone rocks had impressions of seashells embedded in them.

"That is very cool," Magnus admitted. When you slept on dirt to much, you began to lose interest in it pretty quickly. Now he might scoop up a handful at the park next time and hope there wasn't just dog crap around.

"Nature is beautiful," Alex agreed with a secretive smile. The way everything blended together to coexist had always fascinated him. His first ever time playing with his future materials had been trying to make a snake.

His dad had of course thrown it away, but he still treasured the memory of that silly putty looking thing, all the messy, bulgy, ill-conceived proportions of it as he rubbed at his tattoo now.

"Okay," I said. "What good does that do me?"

"You're not so different from me, demigod. Even when I'm out of the water, the water is within me. It is my life source." She stepped back, put her feet in the river, and smiled. "I hope you find a way to rescue your friends."

And with that she turned to liquid and melted into the river.

"If she was trying to give you inspiration, I think she needed to hit you with a bigger lightbulb," Will grinned faintly.

"I'm sorry I can't go around and be his generator," Thalia chuckled.

"I'm going to tie you two together and laugh as everybody at Camp pulls sparklers out of your ears," Percy rolled his eyes.

"I bet I could shake some pixie dust out of them too, and I do mean the kind that'll make me achieve flight," Alex tagged in.

The sun was touching the hills when I got back to the stables. Somebody must've come by and fed the horses, because they were tearing into huge animal carcasses.

Percy felt a quiver of anxiety hum through him. If Eurytion had dragged Grover along to do this as some extra form of punishment and he'd seemingly vanished, if Grover had been trying to send him some kind of helpful message through his empathy link and he'd been to anxious to even notice. Grover knew he'd never abandon him, but it still made him even twitcher to not have gotten that chance to see him.

I couldn't tell what kind of animal, and I really didn't want to know. If it was possible for the stables to get more disgusting, fifty horses tearing into raw meat did it.

"I'm pretty confident someone did that just for that extra kick in your ass right now, with spurs," Will agreed to Percy's troubled frown somehow growing the more words were said.

"Well I'm nobody's prized pony," Percy tried to turn it into a scowl, tried to make it seem like he was being challenged and he'd come out on top.

He'd felt the heat simmering down though, the sun felt like it was moving in fast forward to mock him how little time he had left to figure this out. It was nowhere near the beautiful painting of the endless Texas beauty he'd always heard about and would be quite grateful to never see again after this day.

Seafood! one thought when he saw me.

"It's not a bad nickname for you," Alex said fairly. "You are on a seafood diet."

Percy rolled his eyes hard. "That joke is for seven-year-olds Alex, do better!"

Alex nodded seriously, as if taking that to heart.

Come in! We're still hungry!

"This is what happens when half your diet is desserts Percy," Thalia glibly reminded. "People start mistaking you for a cupcake."

"They're horses Thalia, I warned you in the last book they're not all that bright," Percy scoffed.

What was I supposed to do? I couldn't use the river. And the fact that this place had been under water a million years ago didn't exactly help me now. I looked at the little calcified seashell in my palm, then at the huge mountain of dung.

Frustrated, I threw the shell into the poop. I was about to turn my back on the horses when I heard a sound.

PFFFFFFT! Like a balloon with a leak.

"That's what it sounds like when Percy gets an idea," Jason said in surprise, and Percy frowned if his knee-jerk reaction to something happening was mocking him. He'd been spending to much time around Thalia.

I looked down where I had thrown the shell. A tiny spout of water was shooting out of the muck.

"No way," Magnus said in a daze. How many different ways could this one kid continue breaking the laws of the universe?

"No way," I muttered.

"That's two, anyone going for three," Will flashed his fingers around like a hopeful salesman.

"Magnus is the only one still gullible enough to not instantly know better," Alex shrugged.

Hesitantly, I stepped toward the fence. "Get bigger," I told the waterspout.

SPOOOOOOOSH!

"No way! And it's voice command!" Jason burst out laughing, but it also sounded a tad terrified. Maybe he was now worried Percy was going to make a geyser come out of him next time he annoyed Percy.

They were all to busy laughing at Jason to manage anything back.

Water shot three feet into the air and kept bubbling. It was impossible, but there it was. A couple of horses came over to check it out. One put his mouth to the spring and recoiled.

Yuck! he said. Salty!

"You would do so great at kid's parties," Alex was starting to snicker a little to hard to be intelligible. "Charge by the spout, add some rainbow colors to this fountain!"

It was seawater in the middle of a Texas ranch. I scooped up another handful of dirt and picked out the shell fossils. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I ran around the length of the stable, throwing shells into the dung piles. Everywhere a shell hit, a saltwater spring erupted.

Stop! The horses cried. Meat is good! Baths are bad!

There were tears coming out of Will's face, and Magnus was laughing so hard he didn't seem likely to stop any time soon.

"If you can't get to the toilet, bring the toilet to you," Thalia managed through near hysterics.

"I hate you all," but Percy couldn't even pretend to say that like he meant it as he watched Nico hold his sides. He'd wanted that kid to have more fun in his life and was more than happy to deliver it himself. He wasn't denying himself how funny this situation was trying to describe it like this. Ocean front property in Texas wasn't even a strange statement compared to everything else he'd done so far.

Then I noticed the water wasn't running out of the stables or flowing downhill like water normally would. It simply bubbled around each spring and sank into the ground, taking the dung with it. The horse poop dissolved in the saltwater, leaving regular old wet dirt.

"More!" I yelled.

There was a tugging sensation in my gut, and the waterspouts exploded like the world's largest carwash. Salt water shot twenty feet into the air. The horses went crazy, running back and forth as the geysers sprayed them from all directions. Mountains of poop began to melt like ice.

The tugging sensation became more intense, painful even, but there was something exhilarating about seeing all that salt water. I had made this. I had brought the ocean to this hillside.

Stop, lord! a horse cried. Stop, please!

Water was sloshing everywhere now. The horses were drenched, and some were panicking and slipping in the mud. The poop was completely gone, tons of it just dissolved into the earth, and the water was now starting to pool, trickling out of the stable, making a hundred little streams down toward the river.

"Stop," I told the water.

Nothing happened.

Somebody might have slammed on the brakes in a clown car. Some hiccupping and giggles still spurted the room, but the humor died off fast as Percy rubbed low on his stomach, looking a little clammy around the edges. He'd never pushed his powers this far before. Percy had already proved multiple times in this room he didn't have complete control, and none of them wanted to hear about these horses getting hurt the first time he found that out.

The pain in my gut was building. If I didn't shut off the geysers soon, the salt water would run into the river and poison the fish and plants.

"Between Grover and that naiad, we will turn you into an environmentalist yet," Thalia said from her cushy spot beside him without a second of concern he'd manage it.

Percy smiled in surprise at her instant faith he'd get it though. No jokes he'd needed Annabeth to hold his hand, no teasing he'd need someone else to come along to turn off his spout. Despite all their near-constant teasing, Percy never failed to smile along nobody in here actively thought him dumb even in instances where he wouldn't have blamed them thinking the worst.

"Stop!" I concentrated all my might on shutting off the force of the sea.

Suddenly the geysers shut down. I collapsed to my knees, exhausted.

"I'm guessing you don't consider that a rejuvenating bath," Jason offered.

"I didn't get offered a seaweed scrub and hot wax," Percy said like he had any clue what either of those were.

In front of me was a shiny clean horse stable, a field of wet salty mud, and fifty horses that had been scoured so thoroughly their coats gleamed. Even the meat scraps between their teeth had been washed out.

"Now if only you could do that to your room," Will snorted. "You might actually win the cabin inspection one day."

"Is the prize a flesh-eating horse? Because that's the only win I'd care about," Percy chuckled along.

We won't eat you! the horses wailed. Please, lord!, no more salty baths!

"All purpose wash," Alex said with an inspired snap to his fingers. "Put literally anything through there, it comes out clean."

"I bet people who needed to give their cats a bath would pay big," Magnus agreed, "though you should work on the settings."

"I'll get right on that if my high-school education doesn't work out," Percy said not entirely sarcastically. He didn't have a lot of faith in getting a diploma anyways, let alone living that long.

"On one condition," I said. "You only eat the food your handlers give you from now on. Not people. Or I'll be back with more seashells!"

The horses whinnied and made me a whole lot of promises that they would be good flesh-eating horses from now on,

Alex still paused for a moment to appreciate the look on Magnus' face at that sentence existing in any context. He hoped this wouldn't dampen Magnus's enjoyment of feeding them apples in the future.

but I didn't stick around to chat. The sun was going down. I turned and ran full speed toward the ranch house.

Nobody was really surprised he'd gotten up from a new, painful level of power exposure and probably drained himself to the bone pouring out all that energy into this, and then ran flat off into the sunset. And it wasn't even for food. All he was missing was the horse and cowboy hat to be the picturesque hero on that ranch to challenge someone to a draw at sundown.

I smelled barbecue before I reached the house, and that made me madder than ever, because I really love barbecue.

"I hope Geryon can grow his limbs back, because Percy's going to be tearing them off," Alex said with confidence.

"I hope he at least provided a vegetarian option for Grover, for the victory feast," Magnus nodded.

"I, um, wouldn't hold my breath," Will winced. Geryon was the worst example of southern hospitality.

The deck was set up for a party. Streamers and balloons decorated the railing. Geryon was flipping burgers on a huge barbecue cooker made from an oil drum.

"Grover's probably having some awful flashbacks to Polyphemus," Jason frowned.

"I never thought about that," Magnus agreed in horror. "Gods, what did he eat there?"

"Well I sure didn't ask him," Percy winced.

Eurytion lounged at a picnic table, picking his fingernails with a knife. The two-headed dog sniffed the ribs and burgers that were frying on the grill. And then I saw my friends: Tyson, Grover, Annabeth, and Nico all tossed in a corner, tied up like rodeo animals, with their ankles and wrists roped together and their mouths gagged.

Percy, Thalia, and Will blanched a special color in unison at having to experience the thrill of hearing them so vulnerable and uncomfortable and tortured in this particular way.

"What kind of cows do they have on that farm again?" Magnus asked in concern. "Do practicing on cherry red immortal bovines make them strong enough to even truss Tyson up?" He was probably overestimating Tyson's strength, but it still blew his mind there wasn't a dent anywhere in sight. He was now imagining the poor guy running and getting caught in a lasso.

"Orthus stayed on Annabeth's throat while Eurytion came around and tied us all up," Nico reminded. They'd started with him, or he would have run. That thought gave him a sickening feeling to remember what a horrible brat he'd been back then, only caring about himself.

"Let them go!" I yelled, still out of breath from running up the steps. "I cleaned the stables!"

Geryon turned. He wore an apron on each chest, with one word on each, so together they spelled out: KISS—THE—CHEF.

"I will not," Alex said in disgust.

"How do you think he ties the middle one? How weirdly long are his arms?" Percy asked. They'd looked vaguely proportional enough they shouldn't anyways.

"Eurytion came over and tied it for him," Nico shrugged.

"Huh," Percy said in appreciation.

"Did you, now? How'd you manage it?"

I was pretty impatient, but I told him.

He nodded appreciatively. "Very ingenious. It would've been better if you'd poisoned that pesky naiad, but no matter."

"You really told him everything?" Jason looked at him in disappointment. "You should have lied, just told him you came up with the idea to throw the shells in. I don't know if he can do anything to that naiad, but it would have been better to leave her out of it."

"We've all established I'm not an impulsive liar," Percy groaned, "I wouldn't say I'm better under pressure!"

"Well, thankfully he's going to die, so it won't be an immediate problem," Jason shrugged, but he worried what was going to happen to all those animals all of a sudden once these two were dispatched. Maybe a call to the Hunters and Thalia would show up.

"Let my friends go," I said. "We had a deal."

"Ah, I've been thinking about that. The problem is, if I let them go, I don't get paid."

"You promised!"

Geryon made a tsk-tsk noise. "But did you make me swear on the River Styx? No you didn't. So it's not binding. When you're conducting business, sonny, you should always get a binding oath."

"Next time you should shake on it," Alex sighed. "Then he might think twice about double-crossing you."

"Yeah, yeah, lesson learned," Percy's face was twitching into that steady, concentrated look of a fight about to break out. It took effort for him to close his green eyes and open them again, take a breath and remind himself not to start throwing geysers around in here.

I drew my sword. Orthus growled. One head leaned down next to Grover's ear and bared its fangs.

There was a collective flinch around the room, one that helped Percy ease more into relaxing. Like Briares switching faces, he looked like a completely different person as he smiled at all these people who cared if Grover got a scratch on him.

"Eurytion," Geryon said, "the boy is starting to annoy me. Kill him."

Eurytion studied me. I didn't like my odds against him and that huge club.

"And the dog," Magnus added with dread.

Percy braced himself, then tried to scold himself, forcing his hand to loosen around Riptide in preparation.

"Kill him yourself," Eurytion said.

"Yes!" Jason yelped. "I called it!"

"I have no idea how I did that!" Percy shouted just as loud in delirious delight.

Thalia started laughing hard at these two, not least because she knew Percy was serious. He just had that effect on the right kind of people, someone to be followed. She, ironically, had to work for that and wasn't particularly fond of it.

Geryon raised his eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Eurytion grumbled. "You keep sending me out to do your dirty work. You pick fights for no good reason, and I'm getting tired of dying for you. You want to fight the kid, do it yourself."

"His absolute confidence he would die from fighting you though," Will told him in admiration. "I don't know if it's your record proceeding you or he's actually a shit fighter."

"I'm still trying to figure out how Ares claimed him?" Percy said, completely unphased by the blatant flattery. "If a god adopts you, do they go on the birth certificate?"

Thalia flicked his ear and called him an idiot while Alex read on somehow even more eagerly. One of the fighters was out, but that just meant Geryon had to get his hands dirty which apparently didn't happen very often, so this should be, interesting to see how he used that extra body to his advantage.

It was the most un-Ares like thing I'd ever heard son of Ares say.

"He should come back to camp," Will grinned, "or we could have a summer program down there!"

"If you try to put me on a horse, you are responsible for the results," Nico said with a wounded frown, all for this fight dragging out for the next hundred pages. He was not going to be happy with what came after, and considered it a blessing this had already gone on as long as it had.

"I'll patch every bruise," Will promised at once. "It won't even be that bad, I promise!"

For some reason, Nico believed him. Will would have the ability none before had to make an animal like him.

Geryon threw down his spatula. "You dare defy me? I should fire you right now!"

"And who'd take care of your cattle? Orthus, heel."

"This is so much better than the cliché you can't fire me, I quit line," Magnus grinned. "This man's clearly the useful one around there."

Will started humming the lyrics to Friends in Low Places and Magnus laughed hard in surprise, his mom had loved that one.

The dog immediately stopped growling at Grover and came to sit by the cowherd's feet.

"Fine!" Geryon snarled. "I'll deal with you later, after the boy is dead!"

He picked up two carving knives and threw them at me. I deflected one with my sword. The other impaled itself in the picnic table an inch from Eurytion's hand.

"Child's play," Percy scoffed, brushing his hair out of his eyes to keep his twitching hands from drawing his sword.

"Don't get cocky," Thalia said, her voice not shaking, but still meaning every word. This had been a monster he quite possibly couldn't have defeated if things hadn't worked out exactly as they had. Annabeth had been pretty incredulous when she described it days later when all was said and done in the quest.

I went on the attack. Geryon parried my first strike with a pair of red-hot tongs and lunged at my face with a barbecue fork. I got inside his next thrust and stabbed him right through the middle chest.

"Smart," Alex grinned, letting his eyes fall away with near boredom for how easy that was. If those horses hadn't needed the bath so bad, he'd be complaining Percy should have just done that from the start. "I bet his organs are all weird and spread out, my money would be on the middle one too."

"Aghhh!" He crumpled to his knees. I waited for him to disintegrate, the way monsters usually do. But instead he just grimaced and started to stand up. The wound in his chef's apron started to heal.

"Nice try, sonny," he said. "Thing is, I have three hearts. The perfect backup system."

"Oh!" Alex sounded way to delighted Percy's mind was now racing in circles of how bad that was.

"How did you not bring any of those seashells with you?" Thalia demanded. "I can't imagine how useful those things could have kept being!"

"We really need to work on your strategies with that sword," Jason agreed with a frown. "You're a great dueler, but you need more tricks up your sleeve than the jab and dodge motions you've perfected." He was sure that panic on Percy's face meant that whatever happened next hadn't gone that great.

"That water jetpack idea is starting to sound like a good idea now, isn't it?" Nico chuckled.

Percy was ignoring them, his sole attention on Alex with his friends' lives still on the line. Just because Eurytion had sat out of this fight didn't mean he'd protect them while they were vulnerable, and he wouldn't put it past Geryon to put a sword at their throat to make him yield.

He tipped over the barbecue, and coals spilled everywhere. One landed next to Annabeth's face, and she let out a muffled scream. Tyson strained against his bonds, but even his strength wasn't enough to break them.

Percy's foot was starting to fidget uncontrollably, causing tremors on the floor and little spurts of water to pop up like underwater fountains in between the cracks. Tyson had been through enough already without having to deal with this! How was it fair he'd missed out on Annabeth calling him a seaweed brain twice for not getting to be here?!

I had to end this fight before my friends got hurt.

I jabbed Geryon in the left chest, but he only laughed. I stuck him in the right stomach. No good. I might as well have been sticking a sword in a teddy bear for all the reaction he showed.

"I bet you did stab your toys as a kid though," Alex chuckled.

Percy gave him a strange look, not wanting to admit he hadn't actively had many toys with Gabe around, and he'd cherished the few he had. He didn't blame Alex for thinking it though, he hadn't owned an article of clothing or a piece of paper he hadn't stabbed with a pencil until it was riddled.

Three hearts. The perfect backup system. Stabbing one at a time was no good....

I ran into the house.

"How long is a long sword?" Magnus asked.

"Not that long," Jason shook his head, and Percy was most likely untrained in it to boot.

"You mentioned tossing a javelin around once," Alex reminded. "Get any better practice at that with camp?"

"Not in the slightest," Percy sighed, his feet tapping out a pattern that was causing his little fountains to stop and start in a bizarre pattern like he was trying to send a secret message.

From Thalia's angle, it spelled Help.

"Coward!" he cried. "Come back and die right!"

"So the opposite of a coward is to run away and don't die," Will gave him a thumbs up. "Doing great work Perce!"

"I'm not taking advice from him on this," Percy scoffed, even if he didn't disagree.

The living room walls were decorated with a bunch of gruesome hunting trophies—stuffed deer and dragon heads, a gun case, a sword display, and a bow with a quiver.

"I swear you could point at ten people in Texas and one of them has a gun," Nico rolled his eyes.

"That's a hurtful stereotype," Will pouted. "You don't hear me making jokes about you eating nothing but pasta."

"Okay, okay, I take it back," Nico promised at once with a grin.

Geryon threw his barbecue fork, and it thudded into the wall right next to my head. He drew two swords from the wall display. "Your head's gonna go right there, Jackson! Next to the grizzly bear!"

"There's a compliment somewhere in there," Thalia nodded.

"I'd have preferred the dragon, I'd clash with the fur," Percy sniffed.

I had a crazy idea.

Jason mocked clicked a pen and loudly noted, "that's four for four."

Percy and Nico both winced though, last time that had happened Bianca had paid the price.

 I dropped Riptide and grabbed the bow off the wall.

"We have yet to hear you be in an archery class," Alex noted. "How is this going to go?"

"I clearly haven't shared the infamous story of Percy losing an arrow in the ocean," Will shook his head at his own lapse. "I should remind you all that is nowhere near the archery range by the way! This massive makara  actually came out to spit it back at him and hit the target."

"Thanks Will, here I thought you were nice and had just chosen to gloss over that moment," Percy groaned among the laughter.

I was the worst archery shot in the world. I couldn't hit the targets at camp, much less a bull's eye.

"You threw your sword at that Nemon Lion and hit his hind," Magnus reminded. "You clearly know the weight of that better than anything, couldn't you throw that?"

"I don't think I'd get enough weight behind it to manage this shot," Percy shrugged, though he wished he could have rather than going for a hail merry. He seemed calmer though, now that the solution was in sight, but for some reason the answer still eluded him of why he was even more stressed than when he'd been clueless how this was going to go. The geysers had stopped spelling out SOS anyways.

But I had no choice. I couldn't win this fight with a sword. I prayed to Artemis and Apollo, the twin archers, hoping they might take pity on me for once. Please, guys. Just one shot. Please.

"Artemis definitely owes you one," Alex agreed astutely, "and Apollo seemed to like you enough." He seemed pretty confident anyways this had worked out, and Percy tried to breathe easier it had. His anxious stomach should be settling.

I notched an arrow.

Geryon laughed. "You fool! One arrow is no better than one sword."

He raised his swords and charged. I dove sideways. Before he could turn, I shot my arrow into the side of his right chest. I heard THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, as the arrow passed clean through each of his chests and flew out his left side, embedding itself in the forehead of the grizzly bear trophy.

"Nobody tells me where to get hung," Percy puffed up his chest, only to oof as Thalia smacked him with an arrow. Only a tap, but pointy enough he deflated.

Geryon dropped his swords. He turned and stared at me. "You can't shoot. They told me you couldn't..."

Jason shivered with displeasure Kronos was still so well informed about the quest, and Percy's abilities in particular, when there was unequivocally no doubt any of them were betraying Percy. Juno had said they'd pass through the ranch too, hopefully this was just a unanimous stopping point for anybody in the labyrinth and Kronos and Luke had been banking on this.

His face turned a sickly shade of green. He collapsed to his knees and began crumbling into sand, until all that was left were three cooking aprons and an oversized pair of cowboy boots.

"I'd have preferred the hearts as trophies," Alex sniffed. "Oooh, deck of playing cards with monsters! He's the King of Hearts!"

"I, um, hope you get lots of orders Alex," Percy chuckled.

"Oh don't worry, you'll be in there," Alex promised. "You're the wild card who beats them all obviously."

Percy looked a tad terrified rather than flattered imagining himself in some of the outfits he'd seen on those cards.

I got my friends untied. Eurytion didn't try to stop me. Then I stoked up the barbecue and threw the food into the flames as a burnt offering for Artemis and Apollo.

"Guess it's for the best, I'm not sure I'd trust that monster not to make everything on that grill burnt anyways," Percy sighed for his empty stomach. He couldn't have eaten a single rib right now if he wanted to, he still felt like he was missing something about this experience. For the life of him though couldn't imagine what.

"Or, you know, cursed," Will reminded with a still grumpy frown. It was the only way he could imagine his dad had let this go on, anybody who ate that beef died a horrible death. Which also meant it wasn't the nicest offering.

"Thanks, guys," I said. "I owe you one."

The sky thundered in the distance, so I figured maybe the burgers smelled okay.

Jason side eyed Thalia with unease for that one though. Only Zeus had yet been mentioned to do that, and he didn't think he'd share the button with the two gods in thanks. Hopefully he was just being paranoid, what other reason was there? The gods had shown up plenty of times now for whatever motivation they had. Like Will had said, Apollo had probably been meaning to decimate this place for centuries and just kept forgetting and blew a favor Percy's way now.

"Yay for Percy!" Tyson said.

"Can we tie up this cowherd now?" Nico asked.

"Yeah!" Grover agreed. "And that dog almost killed me!"

"Can't even blame them for wanting revenge," Will sympathized. It took a much bigger person than Geryon to let grudges go after being trussed up, and he certainly wouldn't have minded Eurytion getting a taste of his own medicine, just not permanently for abstaining from the fight.

I looked at Eurytion, who still was sitting relaxed at the picnic table. Orthus had both his heads on the cowherd's knees.

"How long will it take Geryon to re-form?" I asked him.

Eurytion shrugged. "Hundred years? He's not one of those fast re-formers, thank the gods. You've done me a favor."

"Without much help in return," Percy rolled his eyes, but he sounded more exasperated than actually upset. It had all worked out at least. He just wasn't going to lightly forgive somebody sicking their dog on his friends even if they hadn't gone through with it.

"You said you'd died for him before," I remembered. "How?"

"I've worked for that creep for thousands of years. Started as a regular half-blood, but I chose immortality when my dad offered it. Worst mistake I ever made.

"Now there's something we don't hear every day," Magnus yelped. So far all of these gods had seemed more than happy to skip through everybody's life and remind anyone they pleased how powerful they were. Braries wasn't the first example of immortality being so great, but it was nice to hear flat out some people also just regretted it for some reason, like normal 'people' still existed in this godhood pantheon.

Now I'm stuck here at this ranch. I can't leave. I can't quit. I just tend the cows and fight Geryon's fights. We're kinda tied together."

"Urgh, never, ever take a reward from Ares," Jason said in disgust. "Even those somehow sound more awful than his curses!"

"You have learned an important lesson today my friend," Percy nodded along.

"Maybe you can change things," I said.

Eurytion narrowed his eyes. "How?"

"Be nice to the animals. Take care of them. Stop selling them for food. And stop dealing with the Titans."

Eurytion thought about that. "That'd be all right."

"I'm guessing whoever came along to pay made one to many smart ass remarks about his servitude there," Nico said hopefully. It had seemed like a suspicious, quick change to him, and he'd been mentally giving Percy one hell of a tirade in his head about his perfect, stupid way to see the best in everybody, and his stupid, perfect naivety to think this guy would keep his word after one day around him, and his perfect stupid smile.

"Get the animals on your side, and they'll help you. Once Geryon gets back, maybe he'll be working for you this time."

"Mmmm, karma," Alex smacked his lips in appreciation. "Beats the best barbeque."

"Only with the right sauce," Magnus chuckled.

Eurytion grinned. "Now, that I could live with."

"You won't try to stop us leaving?"

"Shoot, no."

Annabeth rubbed her bruised wrists. She was still looking at Eurytion suspiciously. "Your boss said somebody paid for our safe passage. Who?"

The cowherd shrugged. "Maybe he was just saying that to fool you."

"It's possible, but I can't imagine who would bother. I thought he was just flat lying too," Will admitted. Truth be told, Will had no more clue who would only pay for some kids to get through, that seemed to horrible. He glanced to Nico, who had no reaction to this, but didn't pester for details only because he knew it was best not to let Percy's mind simmer on that.

"What about the Titans?" I asked. "Did you Iris-message them about Nico yet?"

"Nope. Geryon was waiting until after the barbecue. They don't know about him."

"Looks like he did have some gentlemen in him," Thalia snickered. "Conducting business after dinner!"

"I don't think I'll be back for seconds," Percy huffed.

Nico was glaring at me. I wasn't sure what to do about him. I doubted he would agree to come with us. On the other hand, I couldn't just let him roam around on his own.

"I'm not your responsibility!" Nico sounded stiff, more like he was arguing with himself than Percy. "You didn't have to care about me any which way!"

"But I did," Percy frowned, trying to keep in mind to choose his words carefully, but it was his first ever go of that. "I do. And it's not just because of Bianca, you know that right?"

"I didn't hear you chasing after Chris Rodrigez to tell him what a bad idea it was to be on Luke's ship," Nico sneered. "You only care about me because you found out I could be the prophecy kid."

"That is not it!" Percy looked legitimately offended. "Okay, so, I got to know your sister and I care about what's best for you slightly more than him!" Percy threw his hands up in exasperation. "I didn't want anything bad to happen to Chris either, it's awful the maze turned him into putty! I'm down there trying to stop Kronos so this doesn't happen to any other kids, including you, who is currently right in front of me and I want to try and help!"

Nico wasn't sure if he was speaking past tense or literally right now, but regardless he found himself cowed. He checked his temper and knew he was still holding a grudge against Percy for Bianca, and he was supposed to be letting that go! He just didn't want to hear what was about to happen.

To hear the last thing Bianca ever said to him again, to have it shoved in his face like a freakshow on display how his sister thought he was a sad, pathetic child who would always need looking after.

The silence lingered, and Nico apparently wasn't going to protest at least that anymore. Percy was looking anxiously between Nico and Thalia, he even poked her shoulder and gestured to him like he wanted her to jump in. Thalia just pursed her lips, she had even less idea about this kids life than him and had no idea what to say to him either, and it would sound even worse coming from a Hunter she was sure.

Alex kept reading in a soft, gentle kind of voice, like he had a little to much practice talking to someone in a vulnerable situation.

"You could stay here until we're done with our quest," I told him. "It would be safe."

"Safe?" Nico said. "What do you care if I'm safe? You got my sister killed!"

Nico spread his hands in silent apology of his own he had nothing else he could say to that, no matter how much he wanted to. Whether Bianca had known going into that statue would be her demise or not, she'd known full well how dangerous it was and done it anyways.

Percy just gave him a silent nod. To keep apologizing back and forth was doing nobody any good.

"Nico," Annabeth said, "that wasn't Percy's fault.

"I'm trying to imagine her blaming anything on Percy anymore," Jason snorted. "The world could end and she'd pat you on the head and tell you it's okay."

"And yet she blames me when her book mysteriously goes missing and tears my cabin apart," Percy chuckled. "I swear someone put it under my bed as a prank!"

"Uhhu," Will rolled his eyes. "Don't ever let either of them have the remote, they'll debrain each other with it fighting who gets to hold it."

The soft laughter that encircled the room gave Nico a chance to breathe for just a moment. He would not make creepy shadow puppets and ghosts appear again. He would not drop the temperature to sub-zero level. He was getting a handle on this!

And Geryon wasn't lying about Kronos wanting to capture you. If he knew who you were, he'd do anything to get you on his side."

"I'm not on anyone's side. And I'm not afraid."

"You should be," Annabeth said. "Your sister wouldn't want—"

"If you cared for my sister, you'd help me bring her back!"

Percy fiddled with his beaded necklace, his stomach in knots. He did understand exactly what Nico wanted, he didn't need to remind Nico every quest he'd been on had been to bring someone back from certain death, just not the whole nine yards of the soul part.

"A soul for a soul?" I said.

"Yes!"

Magnus still wanted to ask about that, about less extreme options Nico had tried first that were just as dangerous to indulge. He couldn't stand the idea of hope being infused into a hopeless journey...but wasn't that exactly what Percy did every summer? What if it worked...

"But if you didn't want my soul—"

"I'm not explaining anything to you!" He blinked tears out of his eyes. "And I will bring her back."

"Bianca wouldn't want to be brought back," I said. "Not like that."

"You didn't know her!" he shouted. "How do you know what she'd want?"

Jason kept the thought to himself he would hope he never knew anyone who would want that. Someone so selfish to take someone else's life to bring their own back. Nico didn't need to hear that though, they all knew he'd just been lashing out, and it was just awkward and painful to listen to as he sat with his head bowed.

I stared at the flames in the barbecue pit. I thought about the line in Annabeth's prophecy: You shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand. That had to be Minos, and I had to convince Nico not to listen to him. "Let's ask Bianca."

The sky seemed to grow darker all of a sudden.

"I've tried," Nico said miserably. "She won't answer."

"Try again. I've got a feeling she'll answer with me here."

"Why would she?"

"Because she's been sending me Iris-messages," I said, suddenly sure of it. "She's been trying to warn me what you're up to, so I can protect you."

Nico still felt the impact of that like someone had thrown him in the barbeque pit instead of the burgers. That Percy was right, and he wouldn't have listened to Bianca even if she'd told him to stop. That he had to have his hand held and walked through the idea what he was doing was wrong, or gods, he might have actually gone through with it. That idea haunted him more than Minos ever had.

Nico shook his head. "That's impossible."

"One way to find out. You said you're not afraid." I turned to Eurytion. "We're going to need a pit, like a grave. And food and drinks."

"Percy," Annabeth warned. "I don't think this is a good—"

"All right," Nico said. "I'll try."

Will had no idea how he was supposed to resist the urge to hug Nico and never let go as desperately sad as he must have been to agree to that. Nico blatantly hadn't trusted Percy and Annabeth right then and still went through with it. He'd been watching this whole time, and Nico didn't seem to be pushing his emotions down anymore, but that didn't mean the fact that he was clearly miserable and tired was leagues better because there was just nothing to be done about that as he sat uselessly in place.

Eurytion scratched his beard. "There's a hole dug out back for a septic tank. We could use that. Cyclops boy, fetch my ice chest from the kitchen. I hope the dead like root beer."

"Okay, we're about halfway done and I need lunch," Alex announced as he snapped the book shut.

"Because me messing with manure and the promise of more dead people really got your stomach rumbling huh?" Percy asked even as he stretched and wearily stood up.

"No finer culinary experience than trying something new," he agreed cheerfully, giving them all the worrisome notion of what Alex was going off to his room to try to do with a happy meal.

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 2: THE VICE PRINCIPAL GETS A MISSILE LAUNCHER

"I don't think now is the time to discuss politics on how we feel about teachers with guns," Magnus said drolly.

"That's one hell of a sign on bonus," Thalia gave a nervous chuckle. She knew no amount of joking in the world would save Percy from the explosion of pain his memory hadn't retained, but she still felt the need to try as he read the chapter title and closed his eyes, as if his mind was already trying to block him from what he knew was soon coming before he cleared his throat and started.

I didn't know what kind of monster Dr. Thorn was, but he was fast.

Maybe I could defend myself if I could get my shield activated. All that it would take was a touch of my wrist-watch. But defending the di Angelo kids was another matter. I needed help, and there was only one way I could think to get it.

I closed my eyes.

"I doubt the whole 'if you can't see me I can't see you thing' works on monsters," Magnus told him.

"Just keeping all my options open," Percy rolled his eyes, even smiling a bit as for once he knew what was going on before them!

"What are you doing, Jackson?" hissed Dr. Thorn. "Keep moving!"

I opened my eyes and kept shuffling forward. "It's my shoulder," I lied, trying to sound miserable, which wasn't hard. "It burns."

Percy was still rubbing his shoulder though while Nico was left floundering how he'd blotted that out of his memory of the nights events when he'd thought they were etched in stone.

"Bah! My poison causes pain. It will not kill you. Walk!"

'That moment when the monster's nicer than Luke,' Hearth winced.

'I don't think nice is the word I'd use,' Magnus shook his head.

Thorn herded us outside, and I tried to concentrate. I pictured Grover's face.

"Annabeth would be so disappointed she wasn't the last face you'd want to see," Thalia laughed, but the others brightened in understanding. That empathy link, though there had never been any confirmation it worked while Percy was awake.

I focused on my feelings of fear and danger. Last summer, Grover had created an empathy link between us. He'd sent me visions in my dreams to let me know when he was in trouble. As far as I knew, we were still linked, but I'd never tried to contact Grover before. I didn't even know if it would work while Grover I was awake.*

Hey, Grover! I thought. Thorn's kidnapping us! He's a poisonous spike-throwing maniac! Help!

"I don't think that's enough to draw his attention," Alex told him. "Maybe if you mentioned something about a poodle, or Jesse McCartney."

"You're right, I should wait until my life's on the line and I'm forced to stall," Percy mock agreed.

Thorn marched us into the woods. We took a snowy path dimly lit by old-fashioned lamplights. My shoulder ached. The wind blowing through my ripped clothes was so cold that I felt like a Percysicle.

"As long as it's a blue one, then it's okay," Will chuckled.

Percy didn't even disagree.

"There is a clearing ahead," Thorn said. "We will summon your ride."

"Is it a dragon?" Alex asked longingly. Just one rideable one, was that to much to ask?

"It doesn't take a human sacrifice does it?" Magnus asked.

"Define human," Jason frowned, none of them were mortal, but would still probably count.

"What ride?" Bianca demanded. "Where are you taking us?"

"Silence, you insufferable girl!"

"Don't talk to my sister that way.'" Nico said. His voice quivered, but I was impressed that he had the guts to say anything at all.

Percy held his hand up in a long-range high five and called, "good on you! More than I did!" 

Nico felt such an unfamiliar swooping through his gut he didn't know what that feeling was for a second. He did not raise his hand back, but said, "thanks," and really meant it. He couldn't remember Percy ever complimenting him before, but it didn't hold the kind of all consuming, breath holding, heart stealing praise he always would have thought. And he wasn't even disappointed. Just, happy with it.

Dr. Thorn made a growling sound that definitely wasn't human.

"Did you still think he was human by this point?" Jason rolled his eyes.

"The French accent was making me think otherwise," Percy said deadpan.

It made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, but I forced myself to keep walking and pretend I was being a good little captive.

"A level of subterfuge I never would have thought you capable of," Thalia applauded.

Meanwhile, I projected my thoughts like crazy—anything to get Grover's attention: Grover! Apples! Tin cans! Get your furry goat behind out here and bring some heavily armed friends!

"So those extra weapons your mom packed were good for something," Magnus grinned, though he was still wondering if his mom would have ever driven him to a quest or perhaps grounded him for trying.

"Halt," Thorn said.

"Who goes there?" Jason mock finished the quote.

"We'd all like to know that," Percy groused while watching Thalia expectantly, even though he still got a sharp pain in his head for the reminder of why he wasn't going to be told early.

The woods had opened up. We'd reached a cliff overlooking the sea. At least, I sensed the sea was down there, hundreds of feet below. I could hear the waves churning and I could smell the cold salty froth. But all I could see was mist and darkness.

The silence lasted a beat in the room as Percy paused and waited for someone to ask him why he hadn't already taken the two and jumped in, an answer on his lips when he saw they knew why. His shoulder was still twitching unpleasantly as he held the book, Nico was picking at his lip with such a troubled expression like this monster had never left his nightmares. Those thorns were sharp, fast, and deadly accurate. They would have been speared even before gravity dragged them down, Percy couldn't have saved them this way.

Dr. Thorn pushed us toward the edge. I stumbled, and Bianca caught me.

"Thanks," I murmured.

"What is he?" she whispered. "How do we fight him?"

"Glory this girls got guts," Jason once again said what Thalia had longed to express, but still to afraid it would come out in past tense. Percy and Nico already couldn't stop a nervous tick anytime her name was said. "I'm betting child of Ares," he concluded with a curious look at Nico who never had given any flat answer who his parent was.

Nico neither confirmed nor denied it, feeling he'd give himself away whichever he did, and Will gently scolded, "don't spoil it for Percy now," as a cover anyways.

"I... I'm working on it."

"I'm scared," Nico mumbled.

Nico braced himself for the laughter and Percy to try taking back his high-five or something. What he instead felt was Will's arm across the back of the couch as he shifted his weight around, not quite leaning in closer, but the casual gesture was felt across the back of his neck as the hairs stood on end even before Magnus looked tragically around. "Am I really the only one who was hysterical at finding out the world wasn't normal? The ten year old didn't even scream, how am I the fruitcake here?"

"I like fruitcake," Alex patted his shoulder, "it's bright and entertaining."

Hearth was sort of laughing at his friends expense, but it was clear to all Magnus was exaggerating his hurt look.

Will leaned close and whispered, "ask nicely later and I'll tell you about how I pissed myself seeing a three headed snake attacking a swan in my back yard."

Percy didn't really want to keep reading as Thalia enthusiastically taught the sign for fruitcake to Alex and Jason couldn't seem to stop laughing without a care in the world. Something bad was coming. Like a pressure set firmly in his mind that had a ticking pulse in it just waiting for him to remember he had no desire to as the curdled, black feeling was easy to ignore now.

Magnus finally turned and begged it of him though, clearly having some regret about having put his foot in his mouth and opening this can of worms. There was something about those grey eyes he couldn't seem to turn down as he cleared his throat and complied.

He was fiddling with something—a little metal toy soldier of some kind.

"Stop talking!" Dr. Thorn said. "Face me!"

We turned.

Thorn's two-tone eyes glittered hungrily. He pulled something from under his coat. At first I thought it was a switchblade, but it was only a phone.

"The hypocrisy, the scandal!" Alex gasped. "What if he summons another monster who wants to eat you too, will they duel each other and you sneak away?"

"Gods I hope not, like we need even more problems," Percy sighed, but he agreed it seemed even more unfair than his already extremely unfair life deserved.

He pressed the side button and said, "The package—it is ready to deliver."

There was a garbled reply, and I realized Thorn was in walkie-talkie mode. This seemed way too modern and creepy—a monster using a mobile phone.

"What do you think their service plan is like?" Jason scowled. "Does DOA have a data rate and come up with all the contracts nobody reads?"

"I just want a list of who all is on the family plan," Thalia scowled in a weirdly similar way with a nasty twitch of her hands, a gesture promising she wouldn't use her arrows to send spam texts to them.

I glanced behind me, wondering how far the drop was.

Dr. Thorn laughed. "By all means, Son of Poseidon. Jump! There is the sea. Save yourself."

"What did he call you?" Bianca muttered.

"I'll explain later," I said.

"You do have a plan, right?"

Grover! I thought desperately. Come to me!

"If Grover's plan A, I don't want to know what your plan B would have been," Thalia tried her hardest not to sound condescending even as she brutally reminded him he'd run off without a plan at all. Grover, in fact, hadn't said a word about an empathy link and had been following their scent as well as the tracks through the snow.

Maybe I could get both the di Angelos to jump with me into the ocean. If we survived the fall, I could use the water to protect us. I'd done things like that before. If my dad was in a good mood, and listening, he might help. Maybe.

"I was right, I didn't want to know," Thalia sighed. If that was a workable solution he'd have done it already!

"I would kill you before you ever reached the water," Dr. Thorn said, as if reading my thoughts. "You do not realize who I am, do you?"

"Only the cannibals have had nametags, otherwise we've had to guess," Will reminded with something like a pout they didn't all take the time to properly introduce themselves before the killing began.

A flicker of movement behind him, and another missile whistled so close to me that it nicked my ear. Something had sprung up behind Dr. Thorn—like a catapult, but more flexible... almost like a tail.

"Unfortunately," Thorn said, "you are wanted alive, if possible. Otherwise you would already be dead."

"Who wants us?" Bianca demanded. "Because if you think you'll get a ransom, you're wrong. We don't have any family. Nico and I..." Her voice broke a little. "We've got no one but each other."

'Didn't stop her from leaving me all alone first chance she got,' but Nico was to tired to hold onto the bitter thought. It wasn't like these were the last moments he'd ever get to revisit the memory of his sister, but he'd also never done so before in such vivid detail. If he was going to have to hear her ultimate ending like he'd never bared to ask for before, he'd rather cling now to any of the good along the way.

"Aww," Dr. Thorn said. "Do not worry, little brats. You will be meeting my employer soon enough. Then you will have a brand-new family."

"Luke," I said. "You work for Luke."

Dr. Thorn's mouth twisted with distaste when I said the name of my old enemy—a former friend who'd tried to kill me several times.

"Don't you start Jason," Percy said before the blonde could even open his mouth. "I don't want to count how many times is several!"

"But it's important to keep track of these things," but Jason's smirk made them all pretty sure he was just messing with him. Then again, he was mouthing something and ticking his fingers, so he was probably doing it in his head and would more likely inform them when or if this was ever resolved.

"You have no idea what is happening, Perseus Jackson. I will let the General enlighten you. You are going to do him a great service tonight. He is looking forward to meeting you."

"The General?" I asked. Then I realized I'd said it with a French accent.

He'd been doing a really crappy version sporadically while reading too, but they'd thought he was just mocking Thorn. Nico's grimace still looked permanently stuck in place until Percy actively tried to stop.

"I mean... who's the General?"

Thorn looked toward the horizon. "Ah, here we are. Your transportation."

I turned and saw a light in the distance, a searchlight over the sea. Then I heard the chopping of helicopter blades getting louder and closer.

"Where are you taking us?" Nico said.

Some place safe, Thalia and Annabeth had promised each other as they'd arrived and began hashing out a plan. The problem was, she glanced guiltily at Nico now and felt like they'd never lived up to that promise. They couldn't have stayed at that school forever though.

"You should be honored, my boy. You will have the opportunity to join a great army! Just like that silly game you play with cards and dolls."

"They're not dolls!

The words had burst out of Nico as Percy had kept reading, and Nico flushed that was still so ingrained in him, but Percy didn't even take the opportunity to laugh at him back, considering the Guinea pig incident. Instead, he was almost watching him like he was impressed he had the nerve to snap at Thorn.

"How intricate is this card game of yours?" Alex asked with intrigue.

"Multilayered," Nico answered automatically. He bit his lip to stop himself going into detail and clutched the figurine in his jacket pocket tight enough his hand cramped. He really needed a new hobby.

They're figurines! And you can take your great army and—"

"Now, now," Dr. Thorn warned.

"Now, now yourself!" Alex protested. "Finish your threats young man!"

"And march off this cliff," Nico shrugged with an actual grin. "I wasn't as creative with the insults yet, but Westover Hall had been a good starting influence."

"You will change your mind about joining us, my boy. And if you do not, well... there are other uses for half-bloods. We have many monstrous mouths to feed. The Great Stirring is underway."

Will's arm twitched behind him again and Nico rolled his eyes, obviously nothing had happened. He'd met Will that night.

"Unless that's chocolate pudding, I don't want to know," Percy groused, though he also knew he rarely got told what he wanted in any good order.

"The Great what?" I asked. Anything to keep him talking while I tried to figure out a plan.

"The stirring of monsters." Dr. Thorn smiled evilly.

'What else do they bake besides donuts?' Hearth mock asked.

'Hopefully tea to soothe them back to sleep,' Magnus shivered.

"The worst of them, the most powerful, are now waking. Monsters that have not been seen in thousands of years. They will cause death and destruction the likes of which mortals have never known. And soon we shall have the most important monster of all—the one that shall bring about the downfall of Olympus!"

"Okay," Bianca whispered to me. "He's completely nuts."

"Being nuttier than a squirrel turd doesn't make him wrong," Magnus sighed. He envied that girl her ignorance while it lasted, he was past his own and still catching up how any of that was possible, while no longer being in doubt it was.

"We have to jump off the cliff," I told her quietly. "Into the sea."

"Oh, super idea. You're completely nuts, too."

"Lookie there Alex, now we both have something in common with this monster," Percy huffed.

"I like her," Alex chuckled, girl had spunk telling both parties this.

I never got the chance to argue with her, because just then an invisible force slammed into me.

"Annabeth's grand entrances and timing for the win again," Jason nodded.

Looking back on it, Annabeth's move was brilliant. Wearing her cap of invisibility, she plowed into the di Angelos and me, knocking us to the ground. For a split second, Dr. Thorn was taken by surprise, so his first volley of missiles zipped harmlessly over our heads. This gave Thalia and Grover a chance to advance from behind—Thalia wielding her magic shield, Aegis.

Percy didn't bother to ask who's plan that was, he read with pride all of his friends storming in like that even as his battle instincts were trying to kick in, his feet already tapping a crazy rhythm on the floor to join in. 

If only he'd used that energy to dance with Annabeth, Thalia smirked to herself. The two could have cut up the floor.

If you've never seen Thalia run into battle, you have never been truly frightened.

"Why thank you Percy!" Thalia beamed at him while he set the book down to indulgently high-five her too for the entrance which she enthusiastically accepted.

She uses a huge spear that expands from this collapsible Mace canister she carries in her pocket, but that's not the scary part. Her shield is modeled after one her dad Zeus uses—also called Aegis—a gift from Athena. The shield has the head of the gorgon Medusa molded into the bronze, and even though it won't turn you to stone, it's so horrible, most people will panic and run at the sight of it.

Even Dr. Thorn winced and growled when he saw it.

Thalia moved in with her spear. "For Zeus!"

"Not the battle cry I was expecting," Jason admitted. She didn't seem to fond of her dad at any rate.

"I like to think it gives me brownie points," she shrugged, when really she just knew that struck even more fear into some monsters. It was a strategy she'd learned young on the streets, better to have them bolt and flee the fight from her mere presence than tax the energy of fighting them.

I thought Dr. Thorn was a goner. Thalia jabbed at his head, but he snarled and swatted the spear aside. His hand changed into an orange paw, with enormous claws that sparked against Thalia's shield as he slashed. If it hadn't been for Aegis, Thalia would've been sliced like a loaf of bread. As it was, she managed to roll backward and land on her feet.

The sound of the helicopter was getting louder behind me, but I didn't dare look.

Dr. Thorn launched another volley of missiles at Thalia, and this time I could see how he did it. He had a tail—a leathery, scorpionlike tail that bristled with spikes at the tip. The missiles deflected off Aegis, but the force of their impact knocked Thalia down.

The whirl of words, raw power and years of hardened battle on display left the others feeling spun around how she could so effortlessly leap back into battle after her actual death experience from before, and still left wondering how she'd fallen at all even from an army of monsters.

Grover sprang forward. He put his reed pipes to his lips and began to play—a frantic jig that sounded like something pirates would dance to.

Nico chuckled to himself as his brown eyes danced in amusement again and Will couldn't imagine ever wanting to drag his eyes away from the sight even though the son of Hades was looking at Percy. Clearly this was a fond memory to him, his love of pirates so perfectly captured in this moment with his swashbuckling hero apparently having saved the day considering he hadn't seen the invisible girl until it was to late.

Not so much for Percy, who was growing more agitated by the word, his hands fidgeting so much along the pages to reach for the pen and forcing himself not to. He had the book, of course he didn't seem to notice the admiring gaze among holding everyone's attention in the thick of battle, but Will finally got the idea.

Grass broke through the snow. Within seconds, rope-thick weeds were wrapping around Dr. Thorn's legs, entangling him.

Dr. Thorn roared and began to change. He grew larger until he was in his true form—his face still human, but his body that of a huge lion. His leathery, spiky tail whipped deadly thorns in all directions.

"Damn that's kind of cool, no hero's ever fought a manticore before," Jason grinned, though that didn't explain the French accent as that was an Iranian myth. Then he went cross-eyed as a vivid mental image of studying in a massive library came to mind as quickly as it vanished and he once again huffed why his mind still retained the most useless of information rather than where that library actually was.

"One got into camp once by disguising itself as a dog," Thalia shrugged, "Chiron personally vets anything invited into camp now."

"A manticore!" Annabeth said, now visible. Her magical New York Yankees cap had come off when she'd plowed into us.

"Who are you people?" Bianca di Angelo demanded. "And what is that?"

"A manticore?" Nico gasped. "He's got three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws!"

"How many cards are there?" Jason asked eagerly.

"Do you really have them all memorized?" Magnus asked, feeling faint. It sounded more complicated than memorizing all the Pokémon, let alone their moves.

"They keep releasing them," Nico said with a soft smile, "and yeah, the rules are pretty complicated but once you learn the-"

"Ahhem!" Percy pleaded. "Your life is on the line now too mister!"

"Right," Nico shut his mouth, but he finally exchanged an excited look with Will who all to happily grinned back. As bizarre as it was to him nobody had yet ridiculed his youthful dumbass, this might actually be fun if he could get a whole team of people to play against.

I didn't know what he was talking about,

"It just described what the manticore was Percy, how much more explanation do you need?" Alex sarcastically asked.

"Dude," Percy groaned without looking up, his impatience growing.

Alex cleared her throat loudly though and Percy did look around, but it took him a second to realize what she wanted. "Dudett," he corrected.

"I accept that," she shrugged.

but I didn't have time to worry about it. The manticore clawed Grover's magic weeds to shreds then turned toward us with a snarl.

"Get down!" Annabeth pushed the di Angelos flat into the snow. At the last second, I remembered my own shield. I hit my wristwatch, and metal plating spiraled out into a thick bronze shield. Not a moment too soon. The thorns impacted against it with such force they dented the metal. The beautiful shield, a gift from my brother, was badly damaged. I wasn't sure it would even stop a second volley.

Now Percy was mad. The empty space on his wrist, the thought of his little brother's brown eye sorrowfully asking where it was, this stupid French lion nearly killing all of them! He wanted to turn to Thalia and hear in as few words as possible what the hell had happened but he knew what she'd do, just point at the book with an apologetic frown so he kept reading as pressure built in his skull.

I heard a thwack and a yelp, and Grover landed next to me with a thud.

"Yield!" the monster roared.

"Never!" Thalia yelled from across the field. She charged the monster, and for a second, I thought she would run him through. But then there was a thunderous noise and a blaze of light from behind us. The helicopter appeared out of the mist, hovering just beyond the cliffs.

It was a sleek black military-style gunship, with attachments on the sides that looked like laser-guided rockets. The helicopter had to be manned by mortals, but what was it doing here?

Percy finally knew how Magnus had felt in the beginning of all this. The answer was staring him in the face, there was no other explanation, but the words made no sense. Mortals working with monsters?!

How could mortals be working with a monster? The searchlights blinded Thalia, and the manticore swatted her away with its tail. Her shield flew off into the snow. Her spear flew in the other direction.

"No!" I ran out to help her. I parried away a spike just before it would've hit her chest.

Thalia grasped his shoulder and whispered a thanks she hadn't the chance to at the time. It was shaking under her grasp. He knew, some part of him that had lived through the terror his mind had forgotten still felt the pain about to come same as she did for what they'd witnessed. She squeezed, and it slowed for a few seconds as he met her eyes and gave her a grateful smile, his mind hoping against hope this meant rescue was on the way.

I raised my shield over us, but I knew it wouldn't be enough.

Dr. Thorn laughed. "Now do you see how hopeless it is? Yield, little heroes."

We were trapped between a monster and a fully armed helicopter. We had no chance.

Then I heard a clear, piercing sound: the call of a hunting horn blowing in the woods.

Hearth tapped Magnus and asked what that was supposed to sound like, let alone signal, but Magnus shrugged with no more clue. As adventurous as his mother was, she'd never been a hunter herself except to press upon him the balance of life and death in the wilderness.

Thalia waved to get their attention, and answered, 'you can feel it in your core as it vibrates in the air, a warning or herald to who you are. It means friends are coming.' The bright smile of pride on her face gave them a hint of who it would be to them.

The manticore froze. For a moment, no one moved. There was only the swirl of snow and wind and the chopping of the helicopter blades.

"No," Dr. Thorn said. "It cannot be—"

His sentence was cut short when something shot past me like a streak of moonlight. A glowing silver arrow sprouted from Dr. Thorn's shoulder.

The camo attire of the girl with the magic silver bow seemed to glow for a moment as Thalia shook her head ruefully. The first thing Zoe ever did she'd admired about that girl, always having to make an entrance, much like the very time they'd met in that bog.

He staggered backward, wailing in agony.

"Curse you!" Thorn cried. He unleashed his spikes, dozens of them at once, into the woods where the arrow had come from, but just as fast, silvery arrows shot back in reply. It almost looked like the arrows had intercepted the thorns in midair and sliced them in two, but my eyes must've been playing tricks on me. No one, not even Apollo's kids at camp, could shoot with that much accuracy.

Thalia chuckled with pride. Those kids might have the godly grace of their father, but not the blessing of their aunt.

The manticore pulled the arrow out of his shoulder with a howl of pain. His breathing was heavy. I tried to swipe at him with my sword, but he wasn't as injured as he looked. He dodged my attack and slammed his tail into my shield, knocking me aside.

Percy grimaced at this revelation of just how powerful this monster was. Something dire happened this day because they hadn't felled this beast.

Then the archers came from the woods. They were girls, about a dozen of them. The youngest was maybe ten. The oldest, about fourteen, like me. They wore silvery ski parkas and jeans, and they were all armed with bows.

"Your kin," Alex realized. She'd truly admired, almost considered the prospect if she could ever hold a vow of maiden hood in exchange for this offer.

"Eventually," Thalia smoothed out a nonexistent wrinkle on her jacket, her smile waning in memory of how she'd gotten here.

Percy studied her intently like he was seeing her for the first time again. He'd never really questioned the silver camo, it looked so natural on her, even covering her black attire.

They advanced on the manticore with determined expressions.

"The Hunters!" Annabeth cried.

Next to me, Thalia muttered, "Oh, wonderful."

"A warm reception I see," Jason said with an uneasy smile, he could practically feel her roll her eyes in the book.

"We didn't start on the best of terms," Thalia agreed distastefully how damn right Zoe had been, and she hadn't even liked her long enough to tell her that before inheriting her position.

I didn't have a chance to ask what she meant.

One of the older archers stepped forward with her bow drawn. She was tall and graceful with coppery colored skin. Unlike the other girls, she had a silver circlet braided into the top of her long dark hair, so she looked like some kind of Persian princess.

Clearly there had been another Lieutenant before Thalia had gotten the job, but the others still batted their eyes a few times to readjust imagining such a thing on a girl they didn't even know.

"Permission to kill, my lady?"

I couldn't tell who she was talking to, because she kept her eyes on the manticore.

"Why would she need it, kind of obvious we don't want this thing around," Percy demanded, looking from Thalia to the book with a panic he was trying so hard to hold back, bubbling tight in his gut.

"Respect," Thalia whispered. When their patron joined them she often preferred to make the final blow herself while they weakened it without orders to do their part. In this particular instance, Artemis may have even considered taking Thorn alive, having been looking for proof of Krono's rising and information about the ophiotaurus before deciding Thorn knew nothing of importance.

The monster wailed. "This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient Laws."

Will hummed a sad note for a moment. That law sure caused a lot of distress among the people it impacted the most. They were absent so much not many people got a chance to remind them of it, but Will liked to think that was why. The distance was there out of eons of habit, not because they didn't care.

"Not so," another girl said. This one was a little younger than me, maybe twelve or thirteen. She had auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail and strange eyes, silvery yellow like the moon. Her face was so beautiful it made me catch my breath, but her expression was stern and dangerous.

Diana, Jason hazarded a not very wild guess. A headache already pinged at the corner of his mind, the idea of these huntresses was still odd in theory, but not nearly as weird as Annabeth and Grover had originally been to him. They were her followers, and he admired Thalia a lot. It should be interesting to see her depicted...he hoped.

"The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, foul creature, are a wild beast." She looked at the older girl with the circlet. "Zoe, permission granted."

The manticore growled. "If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!"

He lunged at Thalia and me, knowing we were weak and dazed.

"No.'" Annabeth yelled, and she charged at the monster.

Percy had hardly batted an eye at the threat to him, but his mind felt like it was holding him hostage as he froze at what she was doing. Thalia tried to reach out for him again, saying in as much concern for him as herself, "Percy-"

Nico braced his arm across Will's chest with a dreaded look of acceptance for what was about to happen and was seriously contemplating if it would do any good to knock Percy out as Hearth rapidly paled in fear. Alex swallowed once and got on her toes, prepared to turn into a whale and swallow them all if she had to.

He heard Magnus say his name too, but it was all coming from to far away to be anything other than an obstacle in his way as he concentrated harder than he ever had in his life on a book.

"Get back, half-blood!" the girl with the circlet said. "Get out of the line of fire!"

But Annabeth leaped onto the monster's back and drove her knife into his mane. The manticore howled, turning in circles with his tail flailing as Annabeth hung on for dear life.

Jason was pushing himself tight into his seat silently wondering if Poseidon would resurrect them when Percy killed them for this blow as Annabeth's fatal flaw was being pushed to its limits right now. She'd thought she could save her friends better than a goddess of the hunt, and Percy was not happy about it.

"Fire!" Zoe ordered.

"No!" I screamed.

But the Hunters let their arrows fly. The first caught the manticore in the neck. Another hit his chest. The manticore staggered backward, wailing, "This is not the end, Huntress! You shall pay!"

And before anyone could react, the monster, with Annabeth still on his back, leaped over the cliff and tumbled into the darkness.

"Annabeth!" I yelled.

Percy was on his feet, the pages whipping around his hand like a gale force wind was trying to tear the book away, but he refused to let the print slip through as he held the last paragraph in a desperate bid to understand.

I started to run after her, but our enemies weren't done with us. There was a snapsnapsnap from the helicopter—the sound of gunfire.**

"No!" The water exploded out from him, ripping the ocean apart at the seams as she vanished over the edge and he didn't care if a bullet struck him as he compelled his domain to catch her, send that monster to the depths and give her back-

"Enough!"

Percy was frozen in place, his scream suspended in his throat while the others stumbled around into each other, their skin tingling unpleasantly and shaking for what almost happened. Thalia was shuddering closest to him, vapor wisping off her skin as if he'd actually been about to obliterate them all.

"Your disturbance is causing waves among the Olympians, literally," Oceanus said with a frumpy frown behind his tangled beard. He was in a seahorse house coat and wearing Hello Kitty slippers that did not diminish his vast presence over every inch of their surroundings as he held Percy in place.

After a few beats of silence, he released Percy, who gasped but immediately fisted his hands up and glowered at the titan, raising his sword point. A stranger stood before them as he looked upon the Titan with the uncaring, brash voice of demand. "Send me back. Give me my memories, and send me home!" Riptide glowed with his rising vocals as water began collecting around him again to cause mayhem, receding it from the Titan himself.

"You are supposed to be in hiding down here mortals, not disrupting continental shifts! Poseidon suggested I should ignore your quibbles after all and put in here who was asked of me, so no more complaining!" He raised his fingers to snap.

Every one of them tensed in fear where they'd be zapped to next.

Hearth jumped forward and signed, 'I volunteer!'

"Hearth!" Magnus grabbed his arm and tried to yank him back.

'You are safe down here my friend,' he paused and frowned at Percy, 'mostly.' He explained so rapidly Magnus almost couldn't follow while Oceanus sighed impatiently, but since nobody was shouting he was still waiting poised. 'Blitz will be worried where we've been, and you should get to meet your family. I will be fine, he has a home we can stay in until you return. We will check the park every day for you.'

Shame burned through Magnus as he understood enough. They weren't even homeless. They had a place to get back to. Then he gave a traitorously guilty look to the Titan with longing, and glanced at Alex out of the corner of his eye. 'Okay,' he pulled him into a quick hug, 'but be careful! I don't want to think if those Norse gods pull any crap in the meantime because I'm gone.'

'Blitz has connections. We will be safe,' he nodded before turning to face the Titan.

He looked so distraught to see his friend vanish, only possibly back home if this guy even did his job right, and yet finally getting to meet her again nobody could tell if he was about to punch his cousin upon arrival or hug her. He looked so like her Percy couldn't help but step forward, dropping his weapon and give just the gentlest pat on the shoulder. Even shying away from it, Magnus gave him a smile of thanks.

A snap, a floom of bubbles as Oceanus left, and they all braced themselves for a whirl of her tangled blonde curls to demand what was going on.

There was just one problem.

That wasn't Annabeth.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

Believe it or not I was going to add Annabeth after the Magnus Chase books were done and have her replace Hearth for the last five, but someone made a pretty valid and compelling argument about how she should get to hear her cousins story the same way he's hearing her's. Then I decided, since I'm adding her early, might as well get the full enjoyment out of a toss up... haha. Hope you enjoy the surprise visit in the next chapter!

* The book said while Grover was awake, not I as in Percy, which is a rather obvious mistake since Grover was awake every time it was used in the last book but Percy wasn't and instead of making it Percy's fault in the book I'm telling you all here.

**Yes, the rest of the chapter is missing on purpose, I cut it off for my needs and it'll be the start to the next chapter. Annabeth mysteriously vanishing and supposedly dying is cliffhanger enough over my favorite Goddess's dramatic reveal, sorry Artemis.

[moa-broke-me]

Hey @yonemurishiroku I made a third part!

From there, a routine was quickly established. Wake up, eat breakfast, nap or movie, eat lunch, nap or movie, eat dinner, go to bed. And no, they weren't kidding about carrying him to the bathroom. It was embarrassing, but he never complained.

He didn't see much of them at first, because most of his time awake was when he was eating, and he turned them away. But then, his appetite inexplicably came back full force, and suddenly, he was constantly eating. His stomach felt like a bottomless pit, always wanting more, more, more. At that point, it didn't make sense to turn away from them in shame anymore, considering he was stuffing his face from the minute he woke up to the minute he went to bed.

Sometimes, he had trouble sleeping. But Nico let him have his phone and earbuds, and after adjusting to the feel of a cellphone in his hands (Calypso had thrown his own phone out of the window years ago after she accused him of cheating, long before the hitting even started), he found a video of Joe Pera that loops for 10 hours. That usually works pretty well. All he has to do is imagine that he's in high school again, that maybe Joe is one of his teachers, he's letting him sleep on his couch because it's cold outside and he knows he doesn't have anywhere else to go. There's a strange kinship I feel with him when he mentions Elise, even if Calypso was much, much worse.

That video was still playing when he heard Annabeth's voice. "Is he awake...?" She whispered just as he opened his eyes. "Hey. I... Heard the bad news. And I actually found some resources online, so if you need me to hook you up with something, don't hesitate to call."

He nodded silently, his eyes flitting over to Percy.

His eyes caught Leo's, and he shook his head. "I knew it. I knew it all along. I wanted to tell everyone something was wrong, but then they'd think I had something against you being in a relationship."

Piper sighed. "She used to seem so nice... But everything I learn about her just makes me hate her. Maybe if I saw the red flags, I would've gotten you out of there before it got to this point." Her voice cracked, and she wiped the last of her tears away. "I've been a horrible friend, Leo. I'm so sorry."

Reyna looked calm, but anyone that knew her could see the heartache in her eyes. "... Don't worry, Leo. We're gonna keep you safe. If she wants to hurt you, she'll have to go through all 8 of us first."

"Yeah." Frank spoke up. "I don't like fighting , but I can probably take her if need be."

Hazel breathed out shakily and nodded, her eyes rimmed with red. "... We... We're all so sorry, Leo. I..." She burst into tears again, her face flying into Franks' shirt, who held her tightly and lovingly. It was then that Leo noticed Annabeth and Percy were holding hands, that Piper's head was resting on Reyna's shoulder, Jason's arm reaching behind him to put it around Nico's hips.

Suddenly, he missed her again.

He hasn't missed her in days. He hasn't even thought of her in days. But now, all I wanted was those serpentine arms coiling around his delicate ribs, sucking the breath from his lungs.

The idea of missing her was so ridiculous he should've found it funny.

But he didn't. he didn't even feel any self pity.

Instead, he felt humiliated, like a former stray that had to be trained not to eat garbage anymore.

He hadn't realized he was crying until he heard Nico's gentle voice. "Hey, Caminetto. What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing. Just a little overwhelmed. Thank you all, really, I just..." He fell silent. It was hard to get back into the swing of things. To actually voice his needs again.

Luckily, Jason seemed to catch on. "Maybe you should all give him some space." He suggested, which was a nicer way of saying 'maybe you should all leave'.

They all understood and said their goodbyes, though Percy lingered in the doorway for a little bit, his eyes misty as his shaking hand drew the door closed, leaving only Leo, Nico, and Jason.

"... Should we leave too?" Nico asked.

Leo threw his arms around Nico in response, crying into his shoulder. He didn't want him to leave, or Jason for that matter. Nico stroked his back and shushed him. "Hey, it's ok. It's gonna be ok. What's wrong, caminetto?"

He tried to calm down enough to speak, but he just kept crying. It took him a while to get down to that fragile state where he wasn't crying anymore, but could start to at any moment. "... I miss her. I shouldn't miss her, but I do, but I never wanna see her again but I don't wanna be alone either!" Soon, he was sobbing again, and Jason rushed to comfort him.

"But cub, you're not alone. You have us, and you have Piper and Percy and-"

"No, I mean... I mean like, the single kind of alone. I'm probably never gonna get another girlfriend, just look at me! Especially if she finds out what a wimp I am."

"Hey, you're not a wimp. And you'll probably fall in love again. And even if you don't, that's ok. We've got your back." Jason smiled at him. "Now, I'm gonna make you some breakfast. You stay right there."

"Yeah... Ok." Leo sniffled, watching Jason stand up and leave.

Nico didn't let go of Leo for a while. "... I'm glad to see you eating. When you first got out of that hospital, you looked..." Nico shook his head. "... The way I used to. When I was at my lowest."

Leo shuddered. "Fuck, I was that bad?"

Nico nodded, tightening his grip on Leo's waist. "... Oh, Leo." His hands moved up to card through his hair. "I love you."

Both boys stopped in their tracks.

"I... Sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"No." Leo leaned on Nico's chest. "... I-I don't mind. I don't mind at all."

The first time she hit him, he was shocked.

Not because he hadn't been hit before. But because all those people that hit him were cold and cruel and drunk. And she was nothing like that. She was completely sober, and she was normally so warm, so loving and kind and sweet. Even she looked surprised, glancing down at her hand and back up at his face like she was having trouble connecting the dots.

He was, too. One moment, she was screaming in his face, and the next, she was standing there in silence, and his cheek stung. He could even feel a small cut from the gem in her engagement ring.

It was a long time before either of them spoke, but eventually, she broke the silence.

"... Don't look at me like that. You know I didn't mean it, right?" She asked, her voice straining to be even and calm, but wavering with barely-disguised desperation. "I'd never hurt you on purpose, I just get so wound up sometimes and... I act without thinking. I'm so sorry, baby."

Leo nodded. "I-I know. It's ok." He cringed at his stutter, making him look weak, making him look like a kicked puppy. Which, in all honesty, is exactly how he felt. "Well, if you're so sorry, can you, um... P-patch me up, at least?"

Her expression soured. "You know how to do it yourself, don't you?" She asked. "The bandages are in the medicine cabinet."

He nodded and smiled, walking off to the bathroom and locking the door behind him. He decided not to dress the wound right away, and instead to take a shower.

So she wouldn't hear him crying.

She used to make him feel happy, make him feel... Safe.

From there, it only got worse. Now, every nickname, every touch, was nerve-racking. When she hugged him, it felt like a snake coiling itself around him, sizing him up to see if she could swallow him whole.

The anxiety got so bad, he could barely even eat. She judged him when he did, anyway. The only times he didn't feel ashamed was when he snuck to the fridge in the dead of night and frantically stuffed his face. Even then, there was the looming threat of her wandering down for the bathroom or water and seeing him pig out.

It was like one moment, she was the perfect, loving girl that he proposed to, that he would die for, and the next... She was unrecognizable. And all he could do was sit there and take it, and wait for her tantrum to be over so she could apologize and say she didn't mean it, and the cycle would start again.

If he ran, she would just throw something at him, and he didn't fight back because even when she threatened his life, he still loved her, and still didn't want to see her hurt. After a while, he didn't have the strength to anyway.

He didn't wanna call the cops, because nobody would believe him, and he didn't want to be believed, really. He loved her. He didn't want her to go behind bars, he just wished that she would stop. None of his friends knew, either. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen his friends in a while, at least a month or two. Didn't even call them, and every time they called him, he kept it short and acted like everything was normal.

He didn't work either, she insisted he stay around the house, living off of her dad's inheritance money. He rarely had an excuse to leave the house, which he supposed was a good thing, because his leg ached from one of their more intense fights. He should've gone to the hospital, but she reminded him that they're living on a fixed income.

And he was still gonna marry her. Because he's spent too much of his life alone, and nothing is worse than that.

One night, though, things went too far.

"You never even talk to me anymore, let alone come to me when you're upset! I hear you crying, y'know. But do you ever cry for me? No! You cry for your mommy." She grabbed him by the collar. "Your mommy is dead and has been for years, move the fuck on!"

That was it. He couldn't take it anymore. He'd been beaten and broken and insulted and screamed at and he'd taken it all in stride, but that was just too far. "... Y'know why I never cry for you? That's why."

"Oh, what, because I'm not dead yet?"

"Because you're mean!" The words ripped from his throat before he could think.

She looked more enraged than he'd ever seen her before, and grabbed him by the collar. "I'll show you what mean looks like."

He just realized that they were at the top of the stairs. He was waifishly thin by now, and it took no effort for her to throw him down the stairs.

He woke up in a hospital room, noticing the single flower on the side table. It was from Calypso, he thinks she called it a tiger lily. And despite all the trauma and cynicism, for a moment, he smiles. For a moment, his heart flutters, seeing her name in beautiful cursive script that he can't read. She loves me! He thinks. Somewhere deep inside, she does love me!

She does this every time, makes a big romantic gesture to apologize for hurting him, and the trick never gets old. Because even though, deep down, he knows he's been had, he pushes it aside and indulges in the rush of love he feels anyway. It's the only comfort he can get these days.

The door opened, and in came Jason, sitting next to him. "Hey... Heard you fell down the stairs. I hope you remember who I am."

Leo laughed a little. "Yeah, yeah, I remember."

Jason smiled, and then held up a bag. "Oh, Nico bought you this earlier yesterday." He pulled it out, and it was a red floral silk tie. "It's, um... For your wedding tonight. Well, I guess that'll be postponed now, huh?"

Leo looks down at the tie, and he knows he should be happy, but he feels his throat tie in a knot. "About that... I, uh..." This had been on his mind since that first incident, but he banished the thought before it could form. "... I'm not so sure about the wedding anymore."

"Really? Why?"

Suddenly, he was shaking, and he couldn't form words, and his bottom lip was trembling, and oh god... He was crying.

Jason tried to put a hand on his back, but he flinched, and started to panic, breaking into sobs. "Hey, hey, it's ok... It's ok, Leo, it's just me."

He started to calm down, but he was still so scared. He'd always been so scared.

Jason stared at him for a while. "... I'm gonna kill her."

(does anyone want a part 2?)

[ask-will-and-nico]

"Well, now I understand why he didn't want to call him at first." Will muttered, but unfortunately, Nico still heard. "What are you two talking about?" He asked, though Hazel wasn't sure if she should answer. He already had to listen to Bianca's voicemail, and with the drugs he was under now, he shouldn't be exposed to even more drama and excitement. But on the other hand... He did have a right to know at some point. She shook her head. "Nothing, nothing." I'll tell him later, she told herself, when he's well enough to handle it. She, like Will and Jason, loved him to death, and vowed to ensure his happiness. For so long, he was the only shoulder she had to cry on, the least she could do now was return the favor.

-

Nico looked between the two and frowned. “What?” he asked. Hazel shook her head. “Nothing,” she said. Nico scowled but he didn’t say anything else. He didn’t have the energy to argue. Hazel sat down beside Jason and pulled her phone out, pulling the timer back up. “Fifteen minutes,” she announced. Nico let out a sigh of relief. He couldn’t wait to get home. And he knew the others had been waiting to get a real dinner until they all were able to leave together, so they’d been eating snacks from the vending machines. They were probably all starving by now.

-/-/-

Nico couldn’t wait to get back home to Cerberus. His poor dog had been all alone since early this morning. The thought occurred to him then, had anyone taken care of Cerberus at all today? Nico voiced the question and Jason reassured him. “When I went out to get lunch I stopped home and took care of him. Poor guy’s feeding schedule is off for today, but he’s doing okay,” Jason said. Nico nodded, though he felt bad for leaving his dog alone again. “I bet he’ll be really exited to see you,” Will said with a smile. “He’ll probably smother Nico and not let him out of his sight for the next week,” Hazel said with a snort. Nico smiled a little bit. His dog was truly the goodest boy there ever was, but he could be a little intense sometimes, and he took his role as protector very seriously.